Can we trust our journalists to tell the truth?
February 6th, 2010 | 
Author: By Anak Kancil
There has been a recent spate of books on Singapore history. This is nothing unusual and should be welcomed. The trouble however, is that these books are written and published at great expense with one purpose in mind, which is to set down one singular interpretation of Singapore history, its heroes and its villains. These books are intended purely to flood out all other accounts or interpretation of a history.
This is nothing new. Older readers will remember that the first group of people who were given permission or agreed to undertake this sort of work were foreign journalists working in Singapore. For several reasons, many of them have taken on a passion to defend Singapore against its detractors, even though they are only temporary sojourners who happened to pass through for one reason or another.
The first of this was Alex Josey, who wrote voluminous books and hagiographies of the founders of modern Singapore. The irony is that after a lifetime of yeoman service, he found himself unable to continue living in Singapore because the health costs became so huge that he could not afford to keep up with his treatment, and no one stepped forward to ensure that his last years was spent with some reasonable comfort. He therefore had to return to his original homeland, England, to pass his last days.
After him, other leading foreign journalists took on the task to continue the efforts of presenting Singapore to Singaporeans and to the world. Two of them John Drysdale and Dennis Bloodworth were given extensive access to Singapore’s intelligence records and other resources. They were also given access to personal interviews with Singapore leaders. Singapore scholars and researchers were not given similar privileges. Of course, these foreign journalists also make some effort to try to contact some opposition figures, so that they could give some semblance of objectivity to the story they would eventually write.
After the departure of these foreign journalists, local senior journalists found that they could now step into their shoes to produce a more credible account of Singapore’s history. Thus we have senior man in the Singapore journalist world, who got together to write The Man and his Ideas, and more recently, The Man in White.
Both of these books were written and produced at great effort and expense with extensive access to local sources. They are large books, each one longer and bigger than the predecessor. Each one of these books was given extensive publicity. In addition, copious chunks of abstracts from these books were also serialized and published in the local press. All these books are well known and helped to promote the continuing saga of the Singapore story, more or less on the same theme and along the same lines. Undoubtedly, these books also gave much publicity to enhance the career of these senior journalists in their subsequent careers.
Now we are told that more books along these lines are being prepared in the pipeline. The latest of this was the two volume biography of S. Rajaratnam which is again written by a local journalist and a fellow at a research institute. We are told that other books by scholars are being prepared to give a more comprehensive account of other leaders in the founding of modern Singapore.
All these books have been and will be widely promoted and distributed throughout Singapore, including local institutions, schools and even the supermarkets. The hope is that a new generation of educated Singaporeans will develop the reading habit of going through these volumes to understand the full story of how Singapore grew and developed as a nation and emerged from abject poverty to its current status, as a first world country.
The question however, is that whether these publicity drive and effort at great expense can lead the people of Singapore to accept and trust the account of the story which is being written and popularized. Or will the people learn to be more cynical and begin to ask whether they can learn to trust these journalists and these scholars.
In a free society, independent journalists and scholars will invariably emerge to write stories and accounts they honestly believe. If journalists and scholars only write to confirm one single version of the Singapore story, how can they expect the general public to accept their credibility, and to trust their intellectual objectivity and integrity? Surely the integrity of our journalists and our scholars are much more important than the need to tell one single version of what has always been a contested story. Many different accounts should be allowed to surface and to be published and given the same access publicity, so that the people can decide in their wisdom the full complexity of the Singapore Story.
Posted in Opinion
59 Responses to “Can we trust our journalists to tell the truth?”
Loading ...
Alex Tan Allan Ooi AWARE Chee Soon Juan Chiam See Tong Claire Lee David Widjaja DBS Dr Allan Ooi Dr Silviu Ionescu Dr Vivian Balakrishnan Foyce Le Xuan highnote5 Hong Lim Park Jack Lin Xinli Jack Neo Jack Neo affair Jack Neo scandal Josie Lau Josie Lau Meng Lee Lee Kuan Yew Lehman brothers Lighthouse Evangelism MAS minibonds Miss Singapore World NTU stabbing PAP Pastor Rony Tan Ris Low Romanian diplomat in hit-and-run Rony Tan S-League silviu ionescu Singapore Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games Tan Kin Lian Thio Su Mien Tiger Woods affair Tong Kok Wai Top 8 Vivian Balakrishnan Wendy Chong Y O G Youth Olympic Games
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.
Writing half-truth stories has very bad consequences for our children and future generation. History is meant to be told in full and not censored and controversial. If SPH does not have the right person and character as historian, please do not make any attempt to fool everyone and re-write things that are not exactly accurate.
To the title….
of course we cant. How can u take what is regurgitated from the 133th media seriously.?!
If she don’t lick the master , where got promotion . She might end up driving taxi , cleaning tables or sweeping floor .
No, I can’t trust the mainstream journalists, that’s why I’m reading the articles here. TR provides much sharper analyses of social issues, and I really appreciate that. Say what needs to be said, so long as it’s not defamatory, that is the marker of a civilized society. I’m proud of TR, keep up the good work.
This is a wise quip from Winston Churchill:
“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it”
And this:
“He who pays the piper calls the tune”
Finally, this:
“Money talks”
I have the power to choose to read what I want (period) No can stop me from reading what I want to read, not the govt, press, aggregator. No one. I have the power.
SPH = Sing & Please Him!!!
MSM = Maximise for Mentor & Senior Ministers!!!
GOOD JOB for a Soulless Job!!! Self Respect and Dignity???
I am not a journalist or the journalist. So, i cannot comment on them but i do have opinions on ‘Telling the Truth’.
I learnt that:
1. There can be Many Truths regarding anything.
Case in the point : Today is a sunny day. If i just tell my overseas friend on the phone the weather here is sunny. He would think that it is really a sunny nice weather i am enjoying.
2. If i do not tell him the weather is also very humid, he may not know and assumes that sunny weather means enjoyable weather as he does not know singapore and that it is a super humid place. In his western country where he live, when people say sunny weather, it means SHIOK! weather where people love to log and walk in the open because their place is dry and cool or cold. Sunny can also be cold. Think south pole.
Truth is not meaningful enough unless ALL RELEVANT TRUTH is PRESENTED.
2. Company CroNeeLus may tell this to investors. (ok, i am not financialexpert, this will be for illustration purpose only).
The company LOST 100 million end of last year 1st Quarter. The company Lost less by 50% the following quarter. Can the company say it grew by 50%? What happens if the company uses 1st quarter last year where it lost the most to compare with
2nd quarter this year where thanks to world recovey (hypo) , revenue came pouring in unexpectedly and they profit by million? Compared to that quarter, is the company’s growth tremendous?
Don’t talk to me about Truths. Growing up, i have learnt that the WHOLE TRUTH is what matters than the truths that constitute the whole truth.
They are at 133 for doing lots of writings,but alas from bottom up!!
Who says the media sells “news”?
Until recently, they sell almost exclusively only hype, drama, sex and all perversions but news to survive. SO HOW CAN WE TRUST THEM when they have a near “monopoly” of information source?
In these days of internet, twitters and mobile sms disseminate the instant BIG “news’ and media (after the known public fact of an event) just either “sex” it all up TO DISTORT or censor sensitivity to nakedness of truth and SLOWER OF REACH. The are behind time and BIGGER of distortions of hype or concealment
Print media is like a tortoise racing with lots of hares. How can they win? The lies and deceptions of one-sided distortions is getting closer and closer to their use-by date and more and more migrate to cyberspace for debated information.
No, no, no, no, no……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….., it is a definite NO, you can not trust the domestic Journalists even to the extent of those performers or simply the employees of the STATE-TELEVISION!
The Main-Stream-Media or simply the STATE-MEDIA is just the mouth-piece of the ruling party especially the contemptible DOM to propagate their rhetoric to mesmerize the gullible main-street-men whereas; the STATE-TELEVISED-MEDIA is just the chess-pieces of the despicable million-dollar miw to spread their propagandas and air their political agendas to hypnotize the credulous working-class-electorates!
If you trust and believe the MSM/State media and /or the State-Television-Station is likening to trusting and believing a “PIG” whom make-up with a lip-stick can really “FLY”!
Dear Fellow Singaporeans
The Newspaper and Printing Presses Act of 1974 and a subsequent revision in 1985 effectively finally nailed the coffin of journalism in Singapore.
Mr. Peter Yeo Toon Joo, an ex-journalist, wrote an article and open letter to our government titled appropriately “ Is this the start of Singapore’s decline?”.
The complete post is still available on The Online Citizen:
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2007/05/article-and-open-letter-to-our-government-by-an-ex-journalist/
Quoting Peter Yeo:
“Put in place committed, honest, mature and trained journalists over your mass media organizations, people with a feel for the ground and popular feeling, people trained in journalism (not just in academia) and bold enough to launch investigative journalistic enquiry that aid thinking and intelligent decision making by Singapore’s people. If you find them do not stifle them.
NOTE: such control of the press deprives you of an essential source of accurate feedback, and surrounds you with sycophantic counsel akin to that of the king with no clothes. The current mass media situation has encouraged a flourishing of emailing and postings on cyber space; they contain useful information as well as misinformation and disinformation, including ranting by irresponsible people.”
Peter Yeo Toon Joo is:
Ex-news editor, Straits Times
Ex-assistant editor, New Nation
Ex-secretary general, Singapore National Union of Journalists Hon. Fellow, Institute of Public Relations of Singapore
Regards
Richard Lu
Of course I trust them to the extend that they alter the truth.
I trust them having very well paid salary.
Do you trust news from the KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY of DPRK(Democratic People’s Republic of Korea)?
there are half-truths in these books, but they also half-lies too. They hide the unspeakable and boast the speakable. that’s why some ppl will still be bluffed by these books.
for those interested in alternative books, i recommend the latest Fajar generation, and a book on Lim Chin Siong “Comet in the Sky”
History – How many young Singaporeans actually know that our MM was a Japanese Intelligence Officer during WWII Japanese Occupation in Singapore?
Lee Kuan Yew – Early Years
During the occupation, he operated a successful black market business selling tapioca-based glue called Stikfas.[7] Having taken Chinese and Japanese lessons since 1942, he was able to find work transcribing Allied wire reports for the Japanese, as well as being the English-language editor on the Japanese Hodobu (報道部 — an information or propaganda department) from 1943 to 1944.[3][8] Lee Kuan Yew was a Japanese Imperial Military Intelligence Officer.
those who trust them are nincompoops!
i stopped monthly subscription of Straits Times & Zaobao since 1995 and have not being buying them except during GE period. even when i read them i read what is not mentioned in their reports, and read with awareness that their local political reports may not be giving the full truth.
to me, both the government and SPH have lost their credibility, totally, entirely, absolutely! this, they can only blame their own folly, because they first treated us like fools by giving us foolish reports and thought we have no brains nor eyes.
The saddest thing is that even though the civil service and uniformed services are supposed to be politically neutral, the establishment is trying to brainwash them too.
Just this past month, the SAF’s Temasek Society (an invitation-only group comprising the leaders and rising stars in MINDEF/SAF) gave out free copies of the “Men In White” book to all its members (in return for filling up a survey). The PSC gives out LKY’s memoirs and other similar books to its new overseas scholars to “educate them on the issues confronting Singapore”. And I’m sure there are many, many other similar attempts to politically influence the best and brightest in the public service.
None of the Animals in the Jungle had any inkling that the Wise Owl in actuality had those large wise looking eyes but had a small brain…..and they were happy that wise owl never failed to answer them with “Who” “Who”….
And the Animals felt relieved they had a “place” in the heirachy of the Jungle.
The answer is evidently NO.
How to trust them when black and become white? What would you be thinking when someone told you that the moon is actually square and not round? well, I would definately know this person had just got himself a “NEW BRAIN” totally unused yet.
Bird Talk:
What is your reference?
After more than 40 years of brainwashing, can you still trust them?
No! No! No!
Accurate account of Spore’s history can only come about when LKY becomes history.
It is imperative to know his little tricks, his activities while serving the Japanese imperial army, his ascendency, his strangle hold on Sporeans, his victims, his stooges and not least, his famiLee’s wealth.
The Singapore media is ranked 144th in the world, around the same sport as zimbawe’s media.
You would be delusional to think the singapore media is free. it is just like saying zimbawe’s media is free.
singaporeans live in their own bubble of propaganda.
The fact that majority pay and pay everyday, not just on saturdays, for the MSM newspapers indictates that they accept the news. Else they won’t buy the news.
They may ‘No Hiu’ or ‘Bo Chap’ or question the quality or integrity of the contents and read it for the sake of reading it and as a form of leisure. Like to pass time or be entertained or feel something.
Could this be a problem given the monopoly of MSM has been going on for like even your grandfather may not know when it all started?
With the wonderful medium of Internet, unbiased factual and above all, interesting history is available to everyone.
Nature will definitely take its course gradually.
//Bird Talk
any other news for the old lky.
What are his wife’s condition?
Is he going away soon?
In my view, the SPH is the worst newspaper in the world. My rating is 0 out of 100 marks. Nobody there deserves to write anything except his/her own resignation. So to all staff of SPH,
please do the noble act of resigning. It’s good riddance to really, really bad rubbish.
MRM on Sat, 6th Feb 2010 4:41 pm
The Singapore media is ranked 144th in the world, around the same sport as zimbawe’s media
Some years ago, a foreigner offered to give me a book on LKY. When I turned it down, she was stunned and asked me why. I told her that the only thing I wanted to know about him is when he was going to die. That’s when we will all be liberated.
I trust our journalists to tell the truth, like I trust my Tiger beer mug will never be empty – FAT HOPE!
What can be done is to publish a new book with interviews from all the former politicians (oppositions) who are still alive, with abstracts taken from the late Ong Teng Cheong, JBJ, Devan Nair, etc….
both the government and sph are moral bankrupts though rich in $$$
do we want a morally bankrupted government?
do we want a morally bankrupted national press?
decide who to vote for in the coming GE now!
ST didn’t even give a full report of the new US ambassador-designate to Singapore, Daniel Adelman’s response to the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jim Webb’s question on how he would engage SG on the various political issues. How can we trust them?
===========
Jim Webb: “The Economist Democracy Index ranks Singapore as 82nd in the world in terms of democratic development, below neighbours such as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Reporters Without Borders ranks the country 133rd out of 175 for press freedoms. What is your view in terms of whether and how the United States should engage Singapore on these other issues?”
Daniel Adelman: “My view is the United States must engage Singapore on these issues. You identified the area where, quite candidly, Singapore needs the most improvement if it were to live up to the ambitions Americans have for democracy. Make no mistake, currently Singapore is not a multi-party democracy, and I intend, if confirmed, to use public diplomacy to work towards greater press freedoms, greater freedom of assembly and ultimately, more political space for opposition parties in Singapore to strengthen Singapore into a multi-party democracy.”
Fellow Singaporeans,
Let’s all get our friends and relatives to boycott all publications, inclusive of Straits Times, The New Paper and Business Times and donate the money to those homeless families.
Sorry…..SPH does not have journalists……they are only a bunch of MIW mouth pieces. Why would any self respecting journalist ever want to work for SPH???
I think the Concept of Truth and Whole Truth constitutable by multiple ‘mini’ truthts should be unleashed to the citizenry to ensure those who don’t understand this concept benefit from it and free themselves from ignorance.
Will try to spread this concept to all relatives in the new year house to house visits where we’ll have lots of time to tok cok.
The only respect I give to those MIW books is when they are been used as toilet paper.
ST “journalists” are quite similar to those Red Guards who write the Big Character Posters during Mao’s Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolutions.
Can I be keipo to answer the question that singaporean posed for bird talk: “//bird talk, what is your reference”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Kuan_Yew
look under Early Life
It goes like that:
During the occupation, he operated a successful black market business selling tapioca-based glue called Stikfas.[7] Having taken Chinese and Japanese lessons since 1942, he was able to find work transcribing Allied wire reports for the Japanese, as well as being the English-language editor on the Japanese Hodobu (報道部 — an information or propaganda department) from 1943 to 1944.[3][8]
Jesus Christ, can anyone believe it?
SPH only have anal-yst .
a disgrace to journalism …. pui pui pui !!! sell soul for money & career.
property tycoon pass away. who’s next ??? There can be only one old fark that should go six feet under. Looking forward to it. Then my plan to migrate to another country can terminate. So do us a favour , go fast & stop meddling our life.
Can we trust our journalists to tell the truth?
This question is just like asking “Can we trust the PAP to respect the principles of democracy and have fair elections?”
SPH = ex-PAP Minister
The quality of their editors and journalists are appalling. Their so called truth is nothing but smoke bombs and diversion tactics. On a political scene, all their truths are only to varnish their master’s message. To confuse all the citizens only. They are pathetic and cannot compete with the real papers overseas. Merely a infant level paper reading quality. Some of us even use it to wrap junks and general cleaning uses which far outweighs the quality and respect it has.
No Way!
I buy shitty times or new paper lar as a substitute for an umbrella – only when (and if) it rains heavily and happen to be in bad use of an umbrella. I honestly do not see the need to read such a lousy newspaper, msotly only one sided-views/commentary and mostly bordering on untruths.
Money is better spent on a cup of coffee when there is no rain lar!!!
Shitty times saw the tide has changed against them and they change to become property developer. This is a great joke. Newspaper monopoly company had to ventured into property to boost earnings to shareholders. Laughable when their core business is losing rapidly to the new media. As a monopoly in Singapore this is an insult to them. Their journalist and editorial staffs are worthless to the company since their focus now turns to architects and property staffs. Their journalist must be feeling very proud…hehe!
we can’t trust them to report the truth, but we can trust them to report crap and half-truths.
IS WHAT MATTERS. So for reminders do keep repeat quotes of this here and elsewhere…
“Repression, Sir is a habit that grows. I am told it is like making love – it is always easier the second time! The first time there may be pangs of conscience, a sense of guilt.
But once embarked on this course with constant repetition you get more and more brazen in the attack. All you have to do is to dissolve organizations and societies and banish and detain the key political workers in these societies. Then miraculously everything is tranquil on the surface.
Then an intimidated press and the government-controlled radio together can regularly sing your praises, and slowly and steadily the people are made to forget the evil things that have already been done, or if these things are referred to again they’re conveniently distorted and distorted with impunity, because there will be no opposition to contradict.”
– Lee Kuan Yew as an opposition PAP member speaking to David Marshall, Singapore Legislative Assembly, Debates, 4 October 1956.”
NO NEED TO SAY MORE. JUST LET THE “Horse’s MOUTH” SPEAK FOR itself!!!
Now, all of you see the point! That is precisely why sph and other glc so desperately wanting to give out Scholarships using Taxpayers’ money to the young and credulous scholars?
This is the only way to groom their future mouth pieces to further propagate their political and commercial agendas and finally in times to go, most scholars will end up their cronies and being recruited into the DOM’s formidable dynasty!
Nobody of the right sense and integrity will work for sph and/or tcs if they have the means to fund their overseas/abroad/local tertiary educations; it is as simple as being assiduously trained as a professional journalist for a few solid years but end up buries all his integrity and professionalism just to serve his pay-master in exchange for good remunerations.
A true marionette slaving for his puppeteer and nothing else! What a “log” of shameful nerds?
History is written by the victors since the dawn of history.
yes but only about 30 percent of truth.
Temasek Review almost 100 percent truth.
Our MSM in Singapore…telling the truth of it as it is…
Maybe they should read the below quotes…and ask themselves…are they tied to the real truth or tied to other more valuble then truth itself..
http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/truth/
The Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jim Webb said :
“The Economist Democracy Index ranks Singapore as 82nd in the world in terms of democratic development, below neighbours such as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Reporters Without Borders ranks the country 133rd out of 175 for press freedoms.
”
TR, interview our high integrity Editors leh. See what is their opinions leh. Or interview any of the radio DJs lah. They very neutral and unbiased wan. i think. very honest people wan.
regrettably no…
the government has never been shy about admitting that information in singapore is controlled to a large extent. they claim that this is in the interest of the public, for the country. but the backlash is that we now know, explicitly, that we will never have independent or fairness in journalism in our mainstream media.
simply by having the possibility of control over the media, even if it is not actually exercised, the seed of mistrust is planted. we can no longer discern which are altered and misguided information or which are factual ones. public media and journalism is an (if not the most) important interface between the government and the public. if we can no longer trust the media, then the government has lost an powerful communication tool to speak effectively to its people and for the public to give essential feedbacks. the lack of transparency in the system actually works against the interest the government vows to serve and protect.
After reading you blog, Your blog is very useful for me .I bookmarked your blog!
Wishes your valentine day to be joyful!