Hey everybody!!
Welcome back friends!!😊 We have finally made it to our 4th entry!!
For this week’s post, it’s gonna be different from the rest as it’s reflection/summary time! Before I move on, shout-out to my members Beatrice, Bei Xi, Fathin, Nandhini & Syafiq! You guys did so well, so proud of y’all!!
Okay, moving on to the main point.
Media
Media is being simply defined as ‘ communication outlets or tools used to store and deliver information‘. It includes an extensive range of component such as our newspaper, television, Internet and many more.
As we’ve all learnt, the ownership of media can be classified into 2 categories – public-owned media and private-owned media. Let’s take a look at how the different ownership works!
Public owned media
A media that is publicly owned is financially and editorially managed by the government. Singapore’s media is an example of a public owned media. Our media outlets are regulated by the Singapore Government through the Ministry of Communication and Information (MCI). MCI supervises our country’s media censorship and enforces laws pertaining to mass media.
The commonly used media in our country are Mediacorp and Singapore Press Holdings(SPH) and what we see through these outlets are intentionally filtered due to MCI’s regulation.
What are some pros and cons?
Pros
- Financially stable as its funded by the government.
- Promotes the nation’s values and serves public interest. For example, if you are awake early enough to catch the first show broadcast at 8am on TV, you may have noticed that Mediacorp plays the National Anthem before commencing the programmes for the day.
Cons
- The government censors any content that is unsuitable for broadcast so this may shortchange the audience as we do not get to see what is actually happening on TV or the news.
- The contents may be manipulated, thus reduces its credibility.
Private owned media
Private owned media is financially and editorially controlled by a non state-linked organisation. Such media are independent and are able to chose their contents without the intervention of the government. In Hong Kong, it uses a combination of private and public owned media. Unlike Singapore, Hong Kong’s Freedom of Press is protected by their Basic Law, therefore, there is no media censorship in their country.
What are some Pros and Cons?
Pros
- Independent from government and is not politically influenced
- Able to provide viewers with more insights by offering perspectives that are non-governmental
Cons
- Not financially stable as revenue depends on viewers.
- Focuses on contents that are sensationalised or superficial to draw viewer’s attention.
My thoughts on media ownership
Personally, I would prefer a media to be public-owned. Although private owned media allows a freedom of speech and its able to publish any content without the government’s intervention, I feel that sometimes the content may raise problems that could spark conflict. Growing up in Singapore, the media content that has been provided to us through a public-owned media has actually benefited us in a lot of ways such as safe-guarding our values and exposing us to contents that promotes ‘Nation Building’
That’s it! We have come to the end to another lengthy post. Thank you for reading!! Cheers friends!! 😊
CYNTHIA 