ABOUT half of Singaporeans polled last year by the Institute of
Policy Studies (IPS) were of the view that 'there is too much
government control of newspapers and television'.
Younger respondents aged 21 to 39 years old agreed with the
statement in larger numbers - over six in 10 - as compared to five
in 10 of those aged over 60.
About 49 per cent of those aged below 60 agreed with the
statement that 'newspapers and television are biased when they
report on Singapore politics, political parties and elections',
slightly higher than the 42 per cent among those aged 60 and
above.
Despite these reservations, respondents still revealed
above-average trust in newspapers, TV and radio. Asked to measure
the trustworthiness of media channels as outlets for political news
from a scale of 1 (untrustworthy) to 5 (very trustworthy),
newspapers received 3.58 on average, the highest.
TV received a 3.55 score, while the Internet received 2.82 on
average. Younger respondents were slightly more inclined to see the
Internet as trustworthy. Mr Wong Liangyuan, 25, an undergraduate,
describes himself as 'equally cynical and wary' of both mainstream
and online media.
The mainstream media may display a bias towards the incumbent
People's Action Party, but online sources display one towards
opposition parties, he said. Hence, when consuming news online, he
focuses on the facts and figures.
-- ST
