Media

This section lists resources on Singapore’s news media in relation to the political system. Readings relate mainly to the press (as an institution or activity in any medium, not necessarily printing technology) and journalism (including blogging and “citizen journalism”). It has been further organised into thematic sub-sections.

Critical Overviews

  • Cherian George, “Holding the Press” in Singapore, Incomplete: Reflections on a First World Nation’s Arrested Political Development, 137–144. (Woodsville News, 2017) – A critical introduction suitable for A-level General Paper and freshman courses
  • Cherian George, Freedom from the Press: Journalism and State Power in Singapore (National University of Singapore Press, 2012)
  • Tan Tarn How “Singapore’s Print Media Policy: A National Success?” in Terence Chong (ed.), Management of Success: Singapore Revisited, pp. 242–56 (Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2010) – A critical introduction suitable for A-level General Paper and freshman courses 

Government Media Philosophy – government speeches and statements

  • Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam, “A Free Press for a Global Society: Speech by Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law” (speech), Columbia University, New York (2010)
  • Lee Kuan Yew, “Managing the Media” in From Third World To First. The Singapore Story: 1965-2000, pp. 212–25 (Times Media, 2000)
  • Bilahari Kausikan, “The ‘Asian Values’ Debate: A View from Singapore” in L. Diamond and M.F. Plattner (eds.), Democracy in East Asia, pp. 17–27 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998)
  • Goh Chok Tong, “The Singapore Press: Part of the Virtuous Cycle of Good Government and Good Society” (speech), The Straits Times 150th Anniversary Gala Dinner, Singapore (1995)
  • Lee Kuan Yew, “The Mass Media and New Countries” (speech), address to the General Assembly of the International Press Institute, Helsinki, Finland (1971) – Historically, the most important document. Although the global context he describes is barely recognisable today, the general principles he articulates here for the first time continue to shape media policy.

Government Media Philosophy – analyses

  • Cherian George, “Neoliberal ‘Good Governance’ in Lieu of Rights: Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore Experiment” in Monroe Price and Nicole Stremlau (eds.), Speech and Society: Comparative Perspectives, pp. 114–30 (Cambridge University Press, 2018)
  • Terence Lee, “PAP’s Communication Strategy” in Greg Lopez and Bridget Welsh (eds.), Regime Resilience in Malaysia and Singapore, pp. 113–128 (Strategic Information and Research Development Centre, 2018)
  • Terence Lee, “Media Governmentality in Singapore” in Andrew T. Kenyon, Tim Marjoribanks and Amanda Whiting (eds.), Democracy, Media and Law in Malaysia and Singapore: A Space for Speech, pp. 25–44 (Routledge, 2013)
  • Cherian George, “Government Unlimited: The Ideology of State Primacy” in Freedom from the Press: Journalism and State Power in Singapore, pp. 71–92. (National University of Singapore Press, 2012) – This includes an analysis of Lee Kuan Yew’s 1971 speech.

Media and Elections

  • Carol Soon and Siti Nadzirah Samsudin, “General Election 2015 in Singapore: What Social Media Did and Did Not Do” in The Round Table 105 (2): 171–84 (2016) 
  • Carol Soon, Tan Tarn How and Nadzirah Samsudin, Media and Internet Use during General Election 2015 (Institute of Policy Studies, 2016) 
  • Tan Tarn How, Tng Ying Hui and Andrew Yeo, “Normalization versus Equalization Effects of the Internet for Political Parties: Singapore’s General Election 2015 as a Case Study”, 2016 Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government (CeDEM): 84–95 (2016) 
  • Tan Tarn How and Arun Mahizhnan, “Not Quite an ‘internet’ Election: Survey of Media Use of Voters” in Battle for Hearts and Minds: New Media and Elections in Singapore, pp. 1–27 (World Scientific, 2015)
  • Cherian George, “Internet Politics: Shouting Down the PAP” in Kevin Y. L. Tan and Terence Lee (eds.), Voting in Change: Politics of Singapore’s 2011 General Election, pp. 145–60 (Ethos Books, 2011)
  • Terence Lee, “Mainstream Media Reporting in the Lead-up to GE2011” in Kevin Y. L. Tan and Terence Lee (eds.), Voting in Change: Politics of Singapore’s 2011 General Election, pp. 145–60 (Ethos Books, 2011)
  • Mark Cenite, Shing Yee Chong, Teck Juan Han, Li Qin Lim and Xian Lin Tan, “Perpetual Development Journalism? Balance and Framing in the 2006 Singapore Election Coverage”, Asian Journal of Communication, 18(3): 280–95 (2008) 
  • Randolph Kluver, “Political Culture and Information Technology in the 2001 Singapore General Election”, Political Communication, 21(4): 435–58 (2004)

Online Journalism

  • Marko M. Skoric, Qinfeng Zhu and Natalie Pang, “Social Media, Political Expression, and Participation in Confucian Asia”, Chinese Journal of Communication, 9(4): 331–47 (2016) 
  • Tan Tarn How, “Normalisation of New Media since the 2011 Election”, IPS Commons (blog) (2015) 
  • Meredith Weiss, “New Media, New Activism: Trends and Trajectories in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia”, International Development Planning Review, 36(1): 91–109 (2014) 
  • Cherian George, Hao Xiaoming and Wen Nainan, “Social Media and Political Participation in Singapore” in Lars Willnat and Annette Aw (eds.) Social Media, Culture and Politics in Asia, pp. 168–88 (Peter Lang, 2014)
  • Yee Hui Josephine Yip, “Internet Regulation – A Myth in Singapore?” The Singapore Law Review (2013) 
  • Liu Yangyue, “Crafting a Democratic Enclave on the Cyberspace: Case Studies of Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore”, Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 30(4): 33–55 (2012)
  • Cherian George, “Control-Shift: The Internet and Political Change in Singapore” in Terence Chong (ed.), Management of Success: Singapore Revisited, pp. 257–71 (ISEAS, 2010)
  • Cherian George, Contentious Journalism and the Internet: Toward Democratic Discourse in Malaysia and Singapore (University of Washington Press, 2006) 
  • Garry Rodan, “The Internet and Political Control in Singapore”, Political Science Quarterly, 113(1): 63–89 (1998)

Media and Globalisation

  • Terence Lee, “The Myth of Singapore as a Global Media Hub” in Loh Kah Seng, Ping Tjin Thum and Jack Meng-Tat Chia (eds.), Living with Myths in Singapore, pp. 61-71 (Ethos Books, 2017)
  • Garry Rodan, “Asian Crisis, Transparency and the International Media in Singapore”, The Pacific Review, 13(2): 217–42  (2000)

Media Law

  • Teo Yi-Ling, Media Law in Singapore (Sweet & Maxwell Asia, 2015) — This is the authoritative textbook on Singapore media law. In addition, the Infocomm Media Development Authority website has links to media regulations, while the Constitution and all statutes can be found at the Attorney General’s Chambers website.
  • Cherian George, “Journalism Tamed: The Mechanics of Media Control” in Freedom from the Press: Journalism and State Power in Singapore, pp. 23-45 (National University of Singapore Press, 2012)
  • Jothie Rajah, “Policing the Press: Newspaper and Printing Presses Act” in Authoritarian Rule of Law: Legislation, Discourse and Legitimacy in Singapore, pp. 117–160 (Cambridge University Press, 2012) 
  • K.S. Rajah, “Negotiating Boundaries: OB Markers and the Law” in B. Welsh, J. Chin, A. Mahizhnan, and T.T. How (eds.), Impressions of the Goh Chok Tong Years in Singapore, pp. 107–16 (NUS Press, 2010)

Media Control and Censorship

  • Cherian George, “Calibrated Coercion: The State Strategy of Self-Restraint” in Freedom from the Press: Journalism and State Power in Singapore, pp. 93-116 (National University of Singapore Press, 2012)
  • Terence Chong, “‘Back Regions’ and ‘Dark Secrets’ in Singapore: The Politics of Censorship and Liberalisation”, Space & Polity, 14(3): 235–50 (2010) 
  • Garry Rodan. Transparency and Authoritarian Rule in Southeast Asia: Singapore and Malaysia (RoutledgeCurzon, 2004) 
  • NGO/other organisational reports:

Journalism Norms and Practices

  • Cherian George, “Why Singapore Journalists Don’t Press for Legal Reform” in Andrew T. Kenyon, Tim Marjoribanks, and Amanda Whiting (eds.), Democracy, Media and Law in Malaysia and Singapore: A Space for Speech?, pp. 45–59 (Routledge, 2014)
  • Hao Xiaoming and Cherian George, “Singapore Journalism: Buying into a Winning Formula” in David H. Weaver and Lars Willnat (eds.) The Global Journalist in the 21st Century, pp. 91–103. (Routledge, 2012) 
  • Cherian George, “George, Cherian. 2012. “Inside the Press: Routines, Values and ‘OB’ Markers” in Freedom from the Press: Journalism and State Power in Singapore, pp. 23-45 (National University of Singapore Press, 2012)
  • Beate Josephi, “On The Cusp Between Global And Local: Young Journalists At The Straits Times”, Asia Pacific Media Educator, 12/13 (2002)
  • Noteworthy insider views penned by working journalists and editors
  • P.N. Balji, Reluctant Editor: The Singapore Media as Seen Through the Eyes of a Veteran Newspaper Journalist (Marshall Cavendish, 2019)
  • Joanne Leow, “Journalism and Jiujitsu: The Gentle Arts of a Dictatorship”, Catapult (2016)
  • Cheong Yip Seng, OB Markers: My Straits Times Story (Straits Times Press, 2012)
  • Lim Jim Koon, Our 70 Years 1923-1993: History of Leading Chinese Newspapers in Singapore (Singapore Press Holdings, 1993)

Press History

  • Cherian George, 2012. “The Harmony Myth: Asian Media’s Radical Past” in Freedom from the Press: Journalism and State Power in Singapore, pp. 117-136 (National University of Singapore Press, 2012)
  • Cherian George, “No News Here: Media In Subordination”  in B. Welsh, J. Chin, A. Mahizhnan, and T.T. How (eds.), Impressions of the Goh Chok Tong Years in Singapore, pp. 444-50 (NUS Press, 2010)
  • Francis Seow, The Media Enthralled: Singapore Revisited (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1998)
  • Mary C. Turnbull, Dateline Singapore: 150 Years of The Straits Times (Singapore Press Holdings, 1995)
  • Chen Ai Yen, “The Mass Media, 1819-1980” in Ernest C. T. Chew and Edwin Lee (eds.), A History of Singapore, pp. 288–311 (Oxford University Press, 1991)
  • Chen Mong Hock, The Early Chinese Newspapers of Singapore, 1881-1912 (University of Malaya Press, 1967)

The National Library Board’s Infopedia section, maintained by its reference librarians, is also especially useful for its historical information.