Last updated in January 2013 *

The Republic of Singapore is a city-state of 5.18 million people, 3.26 million of whom are citizens. It is strategically located at the Southeastern tip of the Asian landmass, on the main maritime route between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Its closest neighbours are Malaysia and Indonesia. Controlled by the British Empire from 1918, it was occupied from 1942-5 by the Empire of Japan. It was granted internal self-government by the British in 1959 and chose to join the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. Singapore separated from Malaysia to become an independent republic in 1965. In most respects, it is a First World city; it has one of the world’s busiest ports and financial markets.

Singapore has been governed by the People’s Action Party (PAP) continuously since 1959. General Elections decide seats in Singapore’s unicameral Parliament, which has a maximum term of five years. The Westminster-style first-past-the-post system means that the margin of victory in each constituency has no bearing on the allocation of seats. As a result, although the PAP’s share of the popular vote ranged from 60 to 75 percent in GEs since the 1990s, its share of seats has never slipped below 93 percent, giving it virtually unchecked law-making power. The PAP currently holds 80 out of 87 seats. Lee Hsien Loong has been prime minister since 2004. He was preceded by Goh Chok Tong and, before that, Lee Kuan Yew, who was prime minister from 1959 to 1990. Lee Kuan Yew, the father of the current prime minister, dominated Singapore politics and shaped media policy for half a century, only retiring from government in 2011.

Singapore is a culturally diverse immigrant society. The majority is Chinese (74% of the resident population) and the main minority groups are Malays (13%) and Indians (9%). There is no dominant religious group. Most Chinese are Buddhists and Taoists; Almost all Malays and some Indians are Muslims. There is a growing population of Christians. Singapore has four official languages: English (the main working language and the medium of instruction in schools); Malay (designated as the “national language” and the language of the national anthem); Chinese (with official promotion of Mandarin over dialects); and Tamil (the language of the majority of Indian Singaporeans). The media market is similarly divided on linguistic lines.

Singapore’s news industry is dominated by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), a corporation created by the merger of two newspaper groups. While not government-owned, it is closely supervised by the political leadership. Its flagship title and de facto national paper is the English-language Straits Times, founded in 1845. In Aug 2011, it had an average daily circulation of 367,200 copies. Its Sunday edition is theSunday Times (373,000). Other English-language dailies are the crime-sex-and-sports tabloid, The New Paper (98,100), and the Business Times (38,400). SPH’s Chinese-language dailies are Lianhe Zaobao (173,000) and its more downmarket sister papers, Shin Min Daily News (138,200) and Lianhe Wanbao (94,100). The bilingual free-sheet My Paper, in English and Chinese, distributed 250,000 copies a day. SPH also publishes the Malay daily,Berita Harian and its Sunday edition Berita Minggu (59,200) and the Tamil daily, Tamil Murasu (17,200). Despite stagnating or gently declining audiences, newspapers remain financially robust.

Broadcasting is dominated by MediaCorp, the sole provider of free-to-air television channels, including Channel NewsAsia, and the main radio station operator. Descended from the government’s propaganda department and corporatised in stages, MediaCorp is government-owned but also highly commercial in orientation. Its news and current affairs programming, as well as most of its Malay and Tamil language content, depends on state subsidies. MediaCorp publishes the only non-SPH Singaporean daily newspaper, Today. The free-sheet claims an average distribution of 300,000 copies on weekdays and 200,000 on Saturdays. In return for retreating from its short-lived foray into television, SPH was given a 20% stake in MediaCorp’s television business and a 40% stake in its newspaper business. Operationally, however, the two companies remain bitter rivals. Subscription television is provided by Starhub, a public-listed company in which the government-linked Singapore Technologies is the largest shareholder. The second provider of subscription television is government-linked Singapore Telecom’s mioTV service. While Starhub and mioTV carry international news channels such as BBC and CNN, neither has a domestic news programme competing with Mediacorp’s news output. Due mainly to Singapore’s status as a major business and financial hub, several international news organisations have significant operations in the country. For example, Singapore is the Asia base of Thomson Reuters and the headquarters of CNBC Asia.

Commercial news organisations such as SPH and MediaCorp are major providers of online news. Yahoo! News is one of the most popular news sites. In addition, there are numerous independent socio-political websites, notably The Online Citizen and TREmeritus, while Facebook is extensively used to share news and views. Leading online forums include HardwareZone. Singapore's independent current affairs sites are volunteer-run and none have the capacity for daily news reporting. Newspapers, and to a lesser extent broadcast stations, remain the main employers of full-time professional journalists. Journalists tend to be university graduates from a range of academic disciplines, with an increasing number coming from communication schools in Singapore and overseas.

The PAP believes that Singapore needs a strong government with the ability to act decisively against threats and to seize opportunities. To that end, freedom of the press must be “subordinate to the primacy of purpose of an elected government”, in the words of Lee Kuan Yew. The main piece of press legislation is the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act (NPPA) of 1974. Under the NPPA, newspapers need annual permits. Newspaper companies must also issue management shares to government nominees, opening the door to government intervention over editorial direction and senior editorial appointments. The Broadcasting Act imposes a licensing requirement on radio and television as well, protecting the state-owned MediaCorp from unwanted competition. Internet regulations under the Act require internet service providers to block any content on the regulator’s instruction. In practice, however, no political websites have been blocked. The main regulator is the Media Development Authority under the Ministry of Communications and Information. The Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Home Affairs are also closely involved in the political supervision of news media.

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Here are some links that researchers may find useful.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• My Journalism.SG site includes a substantial bibliography of academic writing on Singapore media and communication, maintained by Wee Kim Wee School librarians.

OVERVIEWS

• The US State Department’s annual Human Rights reports provide probably the most reliable and nuanced accounts of Singapore media and politics. Unlike most other sources, their authors are based in Singapore and track developments closely.
• The freedom of expression NGO, Article 19, published a report on Singapore in 2006. While somewhat dated, it remains a useful source.
  

LAWS & REGULATIONS

• The Singapore Constitution and all statutes can be found online at the Attorney General’s website. The main piece of press legislation is the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act. Note, however, that many of the rules affecting media are not found in statutes but in various regulations. Unfortunately, these are not found on this site and tend to be harder to track down.
• The Media Development Authority website provides information on Internet regulation as well as  content guidelines for television, film and the arts.
  

CENSORSHIP

• The Southeast Asia Pres Alliance (SEAPA) based in Bangkok publishes annual reports on the state of media freedom.
• Blogger Martyn See has compiled a useful chronological listing of events involving censorship and other government actions against free expression, from 1994 onwards. The accounts are tightly summarised and should be checked against other sources.
• Cherian George and Mykel Yee have compiled a database of actions against internet communication in the first 10 years of public access to the internet.
• The arts network, Arts Engage, has compiled case studies of arts censorship.
  

GOVERNMENT

• The main Singapore Government portal is www.gov.sg. The Government Directory contains names and contact details of all office holders and civil servants, except for certain security services. The Singapore Government Press Centre carries all government press releases. An archive of speechesis maintained by the National Heritage Board, but it is not comprehensive.
• Cherian George's blog, Journalism.SG, has compiled major official statements about media policy.
  

MEDIA

• The best single directory of media organisations operating in Singapore is maintained by the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts.
• Singapore’s main newspaper company is Singapore Press Holdings, whose website includesfinancial information and details about its newspapers, including circulation figures. Circulation figures for the Today newspaper can be found in its ratecard for advertisers.
  

POLITICS

• Singapore election data can be found on a citizen site, Singapore-Elections.com, and on the government’s Elections Department site.

GENERAL

• The National Library maintains an electronic encyclopaedia, Singapore Infopedia, which is especially useful for more historical information.