MM on the Web's gems and rubbish
You need a filter, otherwise it is a waste of time, he says
TODAY, Thursday • October 11, 2007
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew says that the print media is stagnating against the Internet. His advice to newspapers: Be the first with the analysis. He made this point during a wide-ranging interview with US columnist Tom Plate and new media expert Jeffrey Cole.
Singapore is one of the world's most wired countries, far ahead of the pack. How do you imagine over time that this will change Singapore? What will be your sense of what happens in an educated country with high standards, when anyone can get anything on the Web, videos and blogs so that the role of a centralised media becomes less and less dominant?
Well, it is already on its way because the print media here is not growing the same way, they are stagnating. It's not declining as fast as, say, it is in America or Britain.
The young, they read things on the Internet. Yes, I read some stuff on the Internet, but at the end of the day, I say, well, let's see what the proper analysis is.
So, I look up, I look at the editorial pages and the op-ed pages. I am not sure that the young will do that anymore, but the way the print media can stay in the contest is not to be the first with the news because that's not possible, but to be the first with the background and the analysis and the ones with the high credibility will stay in business.
You must have credibility because you get so much on the Internet. Whom do you believe? Finally, you've got to say, who is saying this? And you don't know.
But if you say, this is The New York Times, this is the Washington Post or the LA Times, then you say, well, that is the standard.
With the rise of China, we are already seeing more and more going to China doing business and more Chinese coming here doing business. So, they are going to start reading the Chinese blogs, the Chinese news. It's already happening. So, the trend will be from print to screen.
Right. So, that the role of the centralised media is less important. Even if you can control the centralised media, that's less and less valuable than before.
I don't know if you've caught up with this story. It's a bit of scandal going on.
(Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister) Anwar Ibrahim leaked a video ... of an Indian lawyer talking to a top judge about how he can arrange to get him promoted to be the "Number One" or whatever.
I think it was an eight-minute video and Anwar has now put it on the Internet and it's on YouTube!
So the Malaysian bar — which have already been dismayed at the degradation of their judiciary and the corruption and judge-buying and case-buying — they have demanded a royal commission to inquire into the facts.
So, the government, under pressure now, has appointed a committee of judges and one eminent person, to check on the authenticity of this tape.
So, that's bought them some time, but in the meantime, 2,000 lawyers, following what the Pakistani lawyers did, have marched on to the Prime Minister's office to deliver a petition to investigate this matter.
Now, this would not have happened without the Internet and without YouTube. I mean it is so simple, you see. But at the same time, there is the problem of credibility.
So, you have a website called Malaysiakini. That means "Malaysia Now" and it's got some very good articles in it and some of them are signed regularly by the same person. So when we get that, we read it and then we say, okay, circulate it.
But you get a lot of rubbish, too, and you have got to filter it. It's a waste of time.
This is the future of professional journalism, if there is any?
No, you'll always have it. But if we don't use this [new technology], then we are just one hand tied behind us … This is a highly competitive world. But the flood of information leads to overload.
Therefore, you've got to have somebody filter it for you.
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Which way forward for print media?
Monday • October 22, 2007
P N Balji
TODAY Editorial Director
Mr Lee Kuan Yew's eagle-like interest in media is legendary. From focusing on minute details (like getting Singapore TV to dub and screen the Chinese series The Rise of the Great Nations) to brokering deals (remember the Singapore Monitor-The New Nation-Shin Min Daily News agreement?) to using his persuasive political powers (closure of the Singapore Herald), the Minister Mentor is fundamental when it comes to media matters.
So, when he said in a recent interview with two American academics that the print media is stagnating, you know that the founding father is looking ahead, wondering about what to do next.
This time round, the solutions may not be so simple and neat, for Mr Lee and his team do not have that many cards to use.
For one, the media world is slowly getting fractured with total dominance by one media being tested from the fringes.
And one of Mr Lee's least-talked-of strategies to lock media growth to economic prosperity has begun to unravel with the latter outstripping the former for the first time in recent memory.
Then, there is anecdotal evidence that younger people are getting bored with the stuff being dished out every morning.
At a focus group discussion I had with a group of young Singaporeans recently, I was nearly floored when one stood up and said rather animatedly: Can you all stop reporting about F1? I have had enough, all the twists and turns. I am not interested. Just tell me when it will take place. That's all I want to know. Period!
And I see fewer and fewer hands being raised each time I ask different groups of Singaporeans: How many of you read the newspapers this morning?
But that doesn't mean the thirst for information has disappeared. They are quite up-to-date with the news, being informed of the latest via other platforms, even word-of-mouth.
With the twin challenges of slower advertising growth and more choices for readers, the question to ask, now that Mr Lee has spoken publicly about the plight of print media, is: What changes can we expect?
Mr Lee's emotional attachment with print media (read The Straits Times) goes back to 1959 when he was fighting the general elections as head of an opposition PAP.
The Straits Times, through editor-in-chief Lesli Hoffman, campaigned against him, moved its key editorial operations to Kuala Lumpur after the PAP won the elections and eventually returned to Singapore on Mr Lee's terms.
The paper thus became his coveted trophy, which he will not want to see slip, fall down and break up.
One just has to recollect Mr Lee's words when he gave his blessings to Mr S R Nathan when the former diplomat took on his new job as executive chairman of The Straits Times Press to appreciate the depth of Mr Lee's attachment with the paper: The paper is like a bowl of china and you should try and not break it because although I could it put back together again, it will never be the same.
So, whatever the changes, it is likely that The Straits Times' (ST) primacy will be preserved. If what happened in the past is any clue, then another re-ordering of the media stares us in the face.
Like what happened in the early 1980s when the Chinese and English print media were merged to make sure the former did not die a slow death.
Another re-ordering, if it happens, will be a retrogressive step. With the country's population becoming more international and its ambition to become a international financial centre always under threat, how the media card is played will be watched closely. Instead, a slow-burn route might be necessary.
All levels of Government, as the most important stakeholder in the business, must develop a greater sense of tolerance when dealing with journalists who want to practise meaningful journalism in a responsible way.
The good thing is that there are signs that this is already happening.
Former diplomat and now dean of the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Mr Barry Desker, wrote a commentary in The Straits Times arguing that Myanmar should be suspended from Asean for cracking down on monks.
Another article by a Weekend Today journalist argued that perhaps Dr Goh Keng Swee was the real architect of Singapore.
Both articles were published without any reaction from the establishment.
As for the journalists, well, they need to get out of their comfort zones and not just report the "what" of the news but the "why" of the news. Also, they need to find creative ways to write about sensitive developments in a meaningful and responsible way.
These are the only ways to separate themselves from bloggers and stay relevant to their readers, who will not be prepared to give mainstream media a second chance once they move on to other sources of information.
As for the business side of things, let us accept the reality that continuing to rely on print for heady growth figures are over. The smart ad dollars are going elsewhere, especially to countries outside Singapore.
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