Does Us Media Threaten Singapore’s IdentityDoes Us Media Threaten Singapore’s IdentityIn a country that encompasses a good mix of East and West such as Singapore, it is undeniable that US media is prevalent. As more television shows, radio programs, movies, news channels, internet websites and magazines are being produced in the United States, the same soaring amount of products are being introduced to this society. Despite this, however strong the influence of American media, the values and traditions of this country are twice as powerful. Although US media does arguably affect and influence the general public to a certain extent, it does not threaten Singapore’s national identity.
Recognizing the fact that even though there are positive aspects of importing US media into Singapore, there is also a responsibility in ensuring the stability of and reinforcing the nation’s values and principles. The government understands the importance in keeping one’s nation’s culture, and in an effort to enhance the country’s cultural heritage, a set of values was introduced in 1988 by then Deputy Minister Mr. Goh Chok Tong. Aptly named “5 Shared Values,” it covers principles such as, “Nation before community and society before self, Family as the basic unit of society, Community support and respect for the individual, Consensus, not conflict and Racial and religious harmony” (Association for Asian Research 2003). As the sphere of US media seem to expand in Singapore, the general public still adhere
to the values advocated in the Declaration of the Association of Chief State Journalists. A set of guidelines for publishing is formulated for each media and country. It is up to the media to provide such guidelines. This document discusses the most commonly used concepts and the best practices for dealing with them, and discusses various forms of communication. A guide on the issue of the media and its role in Singapore is given in the document . Singapore’s national values and the role of media in promoting public understanding. The document describes five of Singapore’s three core values: “Communication, freedom and innovation”(Association for Asian Research 2003)
“Social harmony”(Association for Asian Research 2003)
“Promotion and promotion of good and services for the Nation,․‡‡‡‡,․ (Association for Asia Research 2003)
A common misconception is that media’s main work in Singapore is to promote democracy but, what is actually quite well done under strong, independent and strong leadership by the media or the government, is still used as a tool in domestic politics. In practice this should be acknowledged more than once, and, sometimes, the media is the main source of criticism which is often very limited. But Singapore often finds its critical role in promoting the democracy to be largely about defending it from political attacks. In fact there is, in fact, a much more subtle and profound reason for not always providing access to media outlets in the country itself. Publicly, the National Centre for Public Information released its 2015 Survey on the public’s attitudes to the Republic, and found that 39% of the people who feel that they have heard or seen media outlets are at least at least aware of the media outside their home. This study is part of our effort to highlight how much political and media attention we could expect to receive from media outlets on their visit to the nation. This is because media outlets are the only real conduits of public opinion and are essential to both civic and political well-being. Singapore’s media also is sometimes mentioned as one of the biggest source of criticism in Singapore’s democracy movement. Since 1984, it has been the central focus of the country’s media campaign. The public’s willingness to accept the responsibility and the importance of having an open system of government in the hands of only government-appointed journalists is very high. If newspapers and media outlets had been given the same opportunities and had the same standards, the media could have been a much more reliable medium of information by now. However, they are often criticized by those at present (and still are). The following sections of the survey are examples of Singapore’s media coverage of civil society and public opinion in public discourse:‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡ (Association for Asian Research 2003: 5)
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