Chapter 8 - Singapore: Media at the Mainstream and the Margins

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Singapore's media system has been extraordinarily stable through a period of revolutionary change and seismic reforms elsewhere. While new players and technologies have entered the scene, the underlying structure has shifted only gradually. The most obvious reason is the continued hegemony of the ruling PAP (People's Action Party), which is the single most important determinant of media developments in Singapore. This, however, is only a partial explanation. Governments do not always get what they wish for; so the fact that the PAP has been able to maintain a firm grip on media policy cannot be explained solely by its desire to do so. An additional critical factor was its early adoption of pro-market policies. By ensuring that the national press was commercially secure and successful, it gave media corporations a vested interest in preserving the status quo. Another factor was its technological awareness, such that it has not been caught completely unaware by the Internet revolution. The PAP has thus been able to respond to changing conditions at least partly on its own terms.

Stability, however, is not to be confused with stasis. This chapter reviews the established press system, and offers an overview of ongoing and impending changes to media, society and government. I argue that while these changes may be subtle and evolutionary, they contribute to a real and discernible long-term trend towards greater democratization. This trend can be analysed in terms of a transition from a mode of social organization called “enterprise association”, to one of “civil association”. These terms, borrowed from Michael Oakeshott, have been applied to Singapore by James Cotton.1 Enterprise association is an organizing principle marked by a society-wide adherence to a shared undertaking. In civil association, the shared commitment is to rules regulating conduct, rather than to common ends. Singapore under the PAP has been characterized by enterprise association, the common purpose being the struggle for national economic competitiveness. All institutions and policies, including the news media and press laws, are judged on their contribution to the chosen national enterprise. The rule of law, of primary importance in civil association, is relegated to a supporting role in enterprise association.