SINGAPORE: Singapore media is credible, widely read

Lee Kuan Yew responds to media policy concerns, says credibilty issue will self-regulate news outlets

The Straits Times
Friday, October 5, 2007

By Li Xueying

New media offers a deluge of information but only those sources that have credibility will thrive, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

'And I believe our media is credible,' he said in response to a question from a communication studies undergraduate.

The student had noted the twin trends of an increasingly educated - and critical - youth population, and the growing popularity of the Internet. He wanted to know how these trends affected Singapore's media policy.

Mr Lee replied by noting that there had been 'a gradual opening up of porosity' that was inevitable with modern technology.

'The problem now is credibility,' he said.

'You can have any information you want, right or wrong, sound ones, some crazy otherwise on the Internet.

'So at the end of the day, each individual has to decide, who does he believe? Therefore if our media is to have any impact, they must remain credible.'

Remarking that he believed the media here to be credible, he added that judging from the hits on the Internet for Lianhe Zaobao, the Chinese Daily, and The Straits Times, it was obvious that 'when people want to read about the region and Singapore', they read these sites.

This was why he was 'not unduly upset when people say, oh, we are a closed society'.

'How can we be a closed society? There is no magazine which you want to buy which you cannot have.

'We do not block any access to any website, nor do we trace you on Yahoo or Google,' he said, to laughter.

Date Posted: 10/5/2007