GP Seminar - New Media

Notes taken 11 August 2009

Michael Yap (Deputy Chief Executive MDA) on Changing Media Landscape Opportunities and Challenges

2006 - $19 b revenue, $5 b value add, 54,700 jobs – to develop Singapore into a vibrant global media city so as to foster a creative economy and connected society.

MDA Principles of Regulation

· Providing wider range of content through classification

· Co regulation through codes and guidelines for greater industry empowerment

· Consultation with advisory committees and the public to reflect community standards

Legislation

· Broadcasting Act

· Films Act

· Newspaper and Printing Presses Act

· Public Entertainment and Meeting Act

· Undesirable Publications Act

· Media /development Authority Act

Approach to Content Regulation

How stringent the regulation is would depend on the Reach of the Media. Hence the extent of the regulation would be in this order.

Book (affects only the individual who is reading the book; hence censorhip is light), film, audio recording, arts entertainment, videos and dvds, video on demand, pay tv, magazines and finally newspapers and Free to Air (FTA) broadcasting (censorship would be more stringent as they reach the masses)

In a survey conducted by MDA in 2008, 70 % Singaporeans were satisfied with the regulation.

Characteristics of the Digital Media Expanding Communication and Sharing

· Everywhere immersive

· Empowerment

· Collective opinion & intelligence

· Immediacy

Cherian George (Lecturer; Journalism, NTU)

Traditional Journalism vs New Media

· Traditional Journalism

o Subsidized by advertisers

o Bundled with more marketable content (eg classified)

· New Media

o Content is disaggregated

Citizen Journalism

o Democratizes access to the means of doing journalism

o Expert blogs eg Leong Sze Hian (finance) & Tan Kin Lian (Insurance)

o Civil society media eg acres (nature conservation)

o Fan media eg Trip Advisor

Limitations of Citizen Journalism

o Lack of journalism skills and ethics

o Patchy coverage – there’s not likely to be fans of certain boring but important topics and issues eg parliamentary debates

o Not a forum for collective self determination

Therefore there is a need to save professional journalism but who pays for it?

Old and New Politics

· Old Politics

o Attention on demand – in the past politicians could monopolize the media and hence capture our attention

o Prior censorship through the regulation of government license for any new business to start

o Control of agenda

o Control of image

· New Politics

o Fragmented audience (many more choices with the numerous channels available on cable tv and the Internet)

o No barriers to entry ( anyone can be a mass communicator overnight with the Internet)

o From Twitter to Parliament (no longer dependant on the press to bring up issues)

o Respect must be earned

Hence the New Media is an extremely seductive tool for self expression and self actualization; but it should also be used for collective self determination