By Fang Zhi Yuan
When news broke out that Singapore’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, Temasek Holdings have lost S$58 billion dollars of its investment portfolio last year, one would expect many serious questions to be asked in the press. There were none.
More disappointingly, the extent of GIC’s loss was not published in the English papers either while it was revealed by U.S. news agency Dow Jones that GIC may have lost an estimated amount of S$50 billion dollars.
Few Singaporeans would have bade an eyelid 20 years ago at the gross discrepancy between what was reported by the mainstream and foreign media. Now, readers are spoilt for choice. They will simply source for whatever information which was not published by the press on the internet where local bloggers are more than willing to serve them their own dose of propaganda.
The mainstream media risks losing credibility in the eyes of the public if it continues to adhere strictly to its anachronistic policy of self-censoring news of national importance such as the catastrophic losses suffered by our SWFs.
As Singaporeans become increasingly exposed to diversity of views offered by the alternative media, the blatant one-sideness and prejudices of the state media will not be lost upon them. Though there may not be a visible drop in readership in the near future, the influence it exerted over a more astute, discerning and informed population will be diluted.
Two recent reports highlight the growing threat the new media pose to a traditional media which has yet to catch up with the times: a Straits Times report on Singapore being the most wired nation in the world and in a recent study conducted by marketing agency OgilvyOne Asia Pacific, more than one in two Singaporeans said they trust blogs as much as newspapers or TV news bulletins.
In spite of the state media’s frequent exhortations to the public to take what was written on blogs with a pinch of salt, more Singaporeans are finding the reverse to be true. Where there is a vacuum of information from the officialdom, myths, half-truths and rumors will move in naturally to fill its place, thereby becoming the new (distorted) truth.
The best way for the mainstream media and the government to counter these endless speculations is to be forthcoming in the release of information to the public. The more reticent it is, the more it will be perceived as having something to hide.
The mainstream media’s refusal to speak out on critical issues of national importance will inevitably breed cynicism, resentment and contempt for its news coverage amongst Singaporeans, promoting the growth of an adversarial blogosphere which has become disproportionately anti-establishment to counter the official propaganda in recent times.
Had the mainstream media allowed more space and flexibility for dissenting views contrary to the government to be expressed in the public domain, the great political divide between the new and the old media would be narrower instead of growing apart as of present.
It makes little sense to conceal information from the public in this day and age where it can be easily obtained elsewhere by a simple click of the mouse. Nor will internet ramblings be confined strictly within cyberspace as long the press carries no reports on it.
In a wired world without any frontiers, the influence of the new media can reach even those who do not surf the internet via word of mouth, brochures and VCDs. The state media will only make itself look stupid if it chooses to ignore the voices of the people on the ground at the expense of serving the vested interests of the government.