Media can meet web challenge
By Clarissa Oon
THE mainstream media can meet the Internet challenge by continuing to stay accurate and balanced in its coverage - not by becoming adversarial or one-sided like socio-political blogs, Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew said on Wednesday.
It should also bring its own content and standards onto new media platforms, something the main media companies are already doing.
Rear Admiral (NS) Lui was speaking at a dialogue on the changing media landscape with some 200 members of the Singapore Press Club.
As an example of selective reporting on the blogosphere, he cited a recent online video of an elderly Singaporean woman who makes a living by collecting and selling scrap cardboard.
The video was flagged by several bloggers earlier as evidence that Singapore does not take care of its poor and elderly.
But the online commentators 'did not mention she had a three-room flat that was fully paid for, and that she has five children but did not want to rely on them to support her', said Mr Lui, who became Acting Minister in April.
Newspapers in the West have seen their circulation and advertising revenue take a dent, as more readers and viewers migrate online.
However the mainstream media here still holds a secure position despite the emergence of sites like Wayang Party and The Online Citizen, he said.
He cited recent surveys by AC Nielsen and the Institute of Policy Studies which show that a majority of Singaporeans use mainstream media as their primary news source and find it credible.
'As long as the mainstream media reflects the reality on the ground more accurately than any other sources, you ought to be able to retain a sizeable segment of your population,' he said.
In comparison, he said that if one was to believe some online sites here, 'we are probably one of the worst Third World countries around, with an inefficient and corrupt government, and the whole place is a mess'.
'If you read the pieces they put up, that must be the conclusion, (which) does not gel with reality'.
By Clarissa Oon
THE mainstream media can meet the Internet challenge by continuing to stay accurate and balanced in its coverage - not by becoming adversarial or one-sided like socio-political blogs, Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew said on Wednesday.
It should also bring its own content and standards onto new media platforms, something the main media companies are already doing.
Rear Admiral (NS) Lui was speaking at a dialogue on the changing media landscape with some 200 members of the Singapore Press Club.
As an example of selective reporting on the blogosphere, he cited a recent online video of an elderly Singaporean woman who makes a living by collecting and selling scrap cardboard.
The video was flagged by several bloggers earlier as evidence that Singapore does not take care of its poor and elderly.
But the online commentators 'did not mention she had a three-room flat that was fully paid for, and that she has five children but did not want to rely on them to support her', said Mr Lui, who became Acting Minister in April.
Newspapers in the West have seen their circulation and advertising revenue take a dent, as more readers and viewers migrate online.
However the mainstream media here still holds a secure position despite the emergence of sites like Wayang Party and The Online Citizen, he said.
He cited recent surveys by AC Nielsen and the Institute of Policy Studies which show that a majority of Singaporeans use mainstream media as their primary news source and find it credible.
'As long as the mainstream media reflects the reality on the ground more accurately than any other sources, you ought to be able to retain a sizeable segment of your population,' he said.
In comparison, he said that if one was to believe some online sites here, 'we are probably one of the worst Third World countries around, with an inefficient and corrupt government, and the whole place is a mess'.
'If you read the pieces they put up, that must be the conclusion, (which) does not gel with reality'.
