Globalisation VS Localisation

Today's presentation was short and concise. Huda, explained about the Localisation of newspapers in the Singapore context and Anjana explained about Globalisation, specifically on freedom of speech in Singapore. Both of them addressed the topic well by providing relevant examples and they substantiated their facts with evidence.

Localisation is when the country thinks globally but acts locally (Hines, 2003). Using Localisation in the Singaporean context, a standardisation of news can be seen for majority of the newspapers. Taking The Straits Times and The Newpaper as an example, it can be noted that The Straits Times covers more extensive and serious content but The Newpaper is more of a tabloid paper. However, when a comparison of a prominent story is made in both newspapers, the content is almost similar. This shows that important news stories will not be altered even if they are owned by different corporation. This is because, the public has the rights to know the truth and there is no way that an important story will get manipulated by different corporations.

Moving on to Globalisation, technology has indeed made our world more interconnected and has also caused an increase in online and social media platforms. This has led to freedom of speech as well. However, is ANYBODY able to say ANYTHING they want online? Singapore indeed has freedom of speech but, of course, it comes with numerous restrictions as well (Singapore Statutes Online, 2011). Thus, the question of whether we are really a country that promotes free speech is one to ponder.

In conclusion, I think Singapore is still trying it’s best to attain a free speech society but we always have to be careful of how much free speech we want to have. We will definitely get there, slowly but surely – or atleast I hope so.

References

1) Hines, C., 2003. Understanding and explaining localisation [Online]. Available from: http://www.sovereignty.org.uk/features/footnmouth/local11.html (Accessed 31^st May 2011).

2) Singapore Statutes Online, 2011. PART IV: FUNDAMENTAL LIBERTIES [Online]. Available from: http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/non_version/cgi-bin/cgi_getdata.pl?actno=1999-REVED-CONST&doctitle=CONSTITUTION%20OF%20THE%20REPUBLIC%20OF%20SINGAPORE%0A&date=latest&method=part&segid=931158659-000271 (Accessed 31^st May 2011).

Engaging the public and citizen journalism

Engaging the public and online citizenship

This week’s presentation is somewhat similar to last week’s presentation as both topics are inter-related by new media. From this we are able to see that new media is playing a prominent role in today’s society. Beng Wee and Nicole explained this topic well by tying it to Singapore’s context through the general elections 2011.

It is true that new media provides alternative views to be heard online especially if the citizens do not agree with the mainstream media. So does this mean that new media, with the help of citizen journalists, is becoming a watchdog to our society? Take the 2011 Singapore general elections for example. The new media played a huge role in the 2011 elections as parties were able to post their manifesto and speeches online or in their facebook page. This also allowed netizens to play the role of watchdogs as they were constantly updating one another about the current happenings of the elections even on cooling off day (Nie and Saad, 2011). In my opinion, this also cause the elections to be even exciting as parties have to constantly try to outdo each other through online media as they know that they are being judged by netizens.

Thus, with the rise in new media, citizen journalism arises as well. This is when anyone can write about anything online and this usually arises when the public does not trust the mainstream media or when they want to be heard without any editing done by professional journalists (Quinn and Lamble, 2007). This is of course done with regards to current happenings and issues as blogging about a person’s personal life is not considered citizen journalism. Personally, I feel that with the rise in citizen journalism, people especially the younger generation are more aware of the current happenings. This is because, statistics have shown that the younger generations are the ones who prefer using the online media. Thus, by allowing an increase in citizen journalism, youths are becoming more updated about what is going on around them.

However, one must be careful about what they post or read as not everything they read is true as it can be posted by anyone and also what people post online might not be substantiated with hard evidence. So who do you trust than? Online media which may provide shady evidence or traditional media which may not be full of transparency?

References

1) Nie, H.Y. and Saad, I., 2007. The impact of new media on GE 2011 [Online]. Singapore: Channel News Asia. Available from: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1128681/1/.html (Accessed 24^th May 2011).

2) Quinn, S., and Lamble, S., 2007. Online newsgathering: research and reporting for journalism. Focal Press.

Journalism: Who will pay for it?

Today’s seminar presentation covered all aspects of the readings. Jayne did a very good job in explaining the term journalism and the relationship between consumers and a journalist’s pay. Son provided an interactive presentation especially when he brought up the topic of Osama Bin Laden’s death and how majority of us heard the news through online media first rather than print media. This causes one to ponder on the survival of print media and of course, the influence of social and online media impacting print media.

As stated in the reading, there has been a decline in readership among people with regards to print media such as local newspapers. Using United States as an example, its newspaper market has dropped by 30percent and this is also caused due to the print newspaper readership by age cohort (Este, et al, 2010). It can be noted that the Gen Y contributes most to the decrease in print newspaper readership and this is particularly because of the evolution of media in the form of technology. Gen Y are the most exposed to online Medias and social Medias that they always turn to these platforms for their daily dosage of news. In fact, this was even proved in our class when all of us raised our hands to say we found out the death of Osama through online media.

Moving on to Singapore, according to the 2008 Nielsen Media Index, internet usage to access news increased by 5percent while newspaper and television showed a downtrend (Tan, 2008). This also shows that more and more Singaporeans prefer reading e-news rather than reading from the traditional media. Some reasons that people mentioned for preferring online news than buying newspaper is because it is free, ease of access and it is much more efficient as news will be updated on the go. So than how will traditional media such as newspaper survive and who will pay for journalism if everything is available for free? What will happen to journalists and how credible are sources online?

Despite the fact that anyone is able to publish anything online, people still consider online news more credible than print or television (Cassidy, 2007). This is because people tend to believe that traditional media is heavily influenced by the government and thus they are somewhat controlled in what they publish. As for the problem of who will pay for journalism, there are always the advertisers who are willing to pay for their advertisement to be published in newspapers. Citing Mr Jimmy, he mentioned how the New York Times announced paid subscription and they are able to argue that people who buy their papers are from the higher income groups or companies. Thus, they will be interested in the advertisements as well. Thus, consumers and journalists are interrelated as only when consumers pay for their news, journalists will get paid. Thus, as long as there are people who are willing to pay for traditional media, journalists would get paid, although their salaries could fluctuate from time to time.

Finally, in my own opinion, I feel that traditional media will not die. It will decrease but somehow, it was the one that created an epitome of news and there are still people who turn to traditional media for news. Even though internet news is on the rise, we have to remember that popularity does not mean that it pays for journalism as most internet news is free.

References

1) Cassidy, W. P. (2007). Online news credibility: An examination of the perceptions of newspaper journalists. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(2), article 7.Este, J., et al, 2010. Life in the clickstream: The future of Journalism. Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance.

2) Tan, L., 2008. Newspapers and television decline while internet use goes up [Online]. Singapore: Red Sports. Available from: http://redsports.sg/2008/10/19/newspapers-circulation-decline/ (Accessed 21^st May 2011).