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| WikiLeaks has released a cable report on 'Journalists frustrated by press controls' in Singapore. (Screengrab … |
A senior staff member of Singapore's largest newspaper admits there's "significant pressure" on its editors to follow the government line, according to a newly-released WikiLeaks document.
As a
result, reporters within the paper are "increasingly frustrated" with
the restrictions on what they can report and often seek overseas postings where
restrictions are fewer.
The
document, which appears to be written minutes taken in 2009 at the Singapore
Embassy, highlighted the private views of two Straits Times journalists and a
then-journalism student.
Chua Chin
Hon, who is currently the paper's US bureau chief, was quoted as saying that
reporters have to be careful in their coverage of local news, as Singapore's
leaders will "likely come down hard" on anyone who reports negatively
about the government or its leadership.
Without
naming names, he also recounted how several ministers at the time
"routinely call editors" to ensure that media coverage of an issue
"comes out the way they want it."
Chua also
said that ST editors had been vetted to ensure their "pro-government
leanings" and that while local reporters are "eager to produce more
investigative and critical reporting... they are stifled by editors who have
been groomed to tow the line."
In the
WikiLeaks cable, Chua pointed out how there is extensive media coverage before
the government intends to push out a certain policy, adding that some articles
read like "Public Service Announcements".
He cited
how during the 2008 collapse of Lehman brothers, there was a spate of articles
writing about the retirees who lost money in the mini-bonds in a sympathetic
manner, and this was followed by the government's decision to assist those
retirees.
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| Singapore's largest newspaper has often been criticised for its pro-government stance. (Yahoo! photo) |
Another
reporter, Lynn Lee, who is currently the paper's Indonesian bureau chief,
confirmed the restrictions on local media, highlighting the internal editorial
debate over the covering of the opposition in Singapore.
An example
she gave was the conflict over the amount of coverage that the paper would
dedicate to opposition icon J.B. Jeyaretnam (JBJ) following his death in
September 2008, saying that while editors agreed with reporters' demand for
extensive coverage of his funeral, they rejected reporters' suggestions to
limit the amount of coverage devoted to eulogies provided by Singapore's
leaders.
In the end,
the leaders' statements took up a significant portion of the allotted space,
Lee said.
In
addition, Lee revealed that self-censorship was a common practice for
reporters.
She said
that she would never write about any racially sensitive issues, citing the case
of a journalist in Malaysia who was arrested for reprinting a politician's
racially charged comments.
In contrast
to the limitations imposed on local reports, Chua said that the paper's
reporters are more free to write about international events. Chua said he
enjoyed a great deal of freedom during his stint as China Bureau Chief.
The leaked
cable also contained the views of then-journalism student Chong Zi Liang, who
said he could see himself working locally for one or two years before going off
somewhere else, because he thought it was too "stifling" to remain in
the country.
The
document is part of a collection of 251,000 unedited and confidential US
diplomatic cables that can be found on the whistle-blowing WikiLeaks website,
founded by Julian Assange.
In the
latest batch released online, several more can be found about Singapore.
One talks
about the state of Singapore's opposition in 2004 and another on how the
government actively co-opts talented Muslims to become Members of Parliament.
Last year,
WikiLeaks revealed what key Singapore diplomats thought of neighbouring Asian
leaders as well as what former leader Lee Kuan Yew thinks about North Korea.
Former
Today chief editor P N Balji, who has spent 35 years in Singapore journalism
and is now a media consultant, said the leaks "tell an old story",
and there is a need now to study how the old media is trying to meet the
challenges of the new media.
"There
is enough evidence to show how the old media is forced to come out of its
comfort zone and publish stories which broke in the online world. Something we
never saw, say five years ago," he said.
"A new
relationship is developing between the government and media. The biggest loser,
if The Straits Times continues to lose eyeballs, is the government. Then it
will be without a pervasive platform to get across its message," he
pointed out.
"How
this relationship will play out will depend a lot on whether editors can make
the big switch to the new normal in Singapore journalism and how the government
will respond to such efforts," he added.
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