MEDIA WATCH COUNCIL (Formation)

Mr Simon S. C. Tay asked the Minister for Information and the Arts if it is appropriate to foster a media watch council to monitor and review newspapers in Singapore, given their recent proliferation.

The Minister for Information and the Arts (Mr Lee Yock Suan): Mr Speaker, Sir, there is already a Publications Advisory Committee (PAC), which provides advice on content in local publications, including newspapers. The Committee was set up in 1982 and now comprises a Chairman and 73 members drawn from a cross section of society. MITA consults the PAC on publication content that may have breached our guidelines. The PAC reflects the views of the public and helps MITA to maintain the quality of publications in Singapore. There is no necessity for a separate media watch council to monitor and review the newspapers.

Mr Simon Tay: Mr Speaker, Sir, may I ask the Minister, first, is it very apparent that the PAC is able to cope with the increased number of publications since more newspapers have come on board and they are daily affairs? Second, are the PAC and the Ministry actually quite satisfied with the veracity and guidelines of good judgement and morality shown by the new newspapers, particularly?

Mr Lee Yock Suan: Mr Speaker, Sir, it is a fact that the Ministry receives very few complaints from the public about the newspapers. When complaints that violate the guidelines are received, we can refer these complaints to the PAC. So it has not been a problem so far. The system has worked well. As far as I can assess from reading the new newspapers, although there is increasing competition, with vigilance on our part, the Ministry's part as well as the PAC, the general quality has not gone down.

Assoc. Prof. Toh See Kiat: Sir, the Minister has said that the quality has not gone down. But I would like to ask him if it is not indeed time, even if it is just the existing committee, to be looking into issues like, as Mr Tay says, morality and ethics, and to stop this practice of newspapers, for example, putting out articles which appear to be investigative reports but which are really paid advertisements?

Mr Lee Yock Suan: If the Member has specific complaints of cases, he can bring them to my attention. We are reviewing the process all the time and we are watching how the newspapers develop. Of course, with increasing competition, we realise that there is a tendency to publish, for example, photographs of women, which are more revealing. So we have to watch them all the time. But my general feeling is, with what is being done at the moment, the situation is fine and we need not over-react.

Mr Simon Tay: Does the Minister say he must watch them all the time? I hope he means the newspapers, and not the women. But, seriously, my concern is also about veracity, because to my recollection, one of the newspapers made a very unfortunate headline ---

Mr Speaker: Mr Tay, could you ask your question?

Mr Simon Tay: Yes, Sir. There was a particular incident, Sir, where a newspaper made a particular mistake over the tragic accident of the SIA crash and clearly, it deviated from the previous principle of better, slower but accurate, whereas they came up fast, but wrong. And I want to ask the Minister whether this has received a reprimand from the PAC, or the Ministry, or whether any action should be taken in future about this kind of reporting.

Mr Lee Yock Suan: I cannot remember exactly what is this incident about the SIA crash that was inaccurately reported. But I am sure you have noticed that whenever the papers make mistakes, they are quite fast in correcting their errors. For example, when Ministries detect the errors, we will write to them and the correction will come out very quickly. So if there are instances where the public feel aggrieved about errors, they should write to the newspapers. And I am sure the newspapers will be careful about their professionalism and be clear about their credibility and accuracy.