SINGAPORE: The government will restructure the way
it communicates, taking into account the current media landscape,
where people source information from various
mediums.
Information, Communications and the Arts Minister
Yaacob Ibrahim highlighted this as an area the new Communications
and Information Ministry will focus on, from 1
November.
New media have been a game-changer in spreading
information.
Singapore's Communications and Information Ministry will look at
education -- how to make sense of what one reads on the web, said
Dr Yaacob, the man helming the new ministry.
"At the end of the day, we also have to ensure that people who are
surfing the internet, going online, also understand how to navigate
and have the right cyber skills, so to speak, to ensure they have
the info-literacy and media-literacy skills necessary for them to
understand what is being purveyed," he added.
Going forward, the Infocomm Development Authority, Media
Development Authority and the National Library Board will have a
bigger role to play in cyber-education.
With more voices being amplified in the digital age, authorities
now have to look more closely at the way government-to-people
communications are being managed. It is in this area that efforts
are being made to enhance the way things are done.
A Media Convergence Review Panel has been set up to assist with
re-looking at Singapore's current media policies.
The panel is led by Koh Boon Hwee, former chairman of telco
SingTel.
The authorities are paying special attention to how local content
is driven with convergence, and what should be the right regulatory
framework in this area, said Dr Yaacob.
"Having local content which is attractive will allow us to anchor
our population, not only to the country but to our sense of history
and our sense as a people and allow us to help in the continuing
conversation of who we are and where we want to go," he said.
The government has been working closely with national broadcaster
MediaCorp to enhance the slew of free-to-air entertainment and
current affairs offerings.
- CNA/al