The Straits Times
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Straits Times | |
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
| Format | Broadsheet |
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| Owner | Singapore Press Holdings |
| Editor | Cheong Yip Seng |
| Founded | July 15, 1845 |
| Language | English |
| Price | S$0.80 at newsstands, S$0.70 for subscription |
| Headquarters | Singapore |
| Circulation | Estimated 400,000 daily |
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| Website: http://www.stinteractive.com.sg | |
The Straits Times is an English-language broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and owned by the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), first published on July 15, 1845. It is the oldest newspaper of any kind in Singapore and is the dominant English-language paper of the country, with a circulation of around 400,000 daily. In fact, it is the only broadsheet English-language newspaper in the country with a general news coverage. The other English-language broadsheet is the Business Times, which focuses mainly on business news.
Currently, the newspaper publishes three weekly pull-outs ("Digital Life," "Mind Your Body," and "Urban," on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, respectively). All three pull-outs are published in tabloid format.
The Straits Times is the only English-language newspaper with an active Internet forum in Singapore. A separate edition, The Sunday Times, is published on Sundays.
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[edit] About the paper
The Straits Times functions with 11 bureaus and special correspondents in major cities worldwide. The paper itself is published in three main sections: the main focuses on Asian and international news, with subsections of columns and editorials. The "Home" section focuses on local news, together with the forum, sports and finance pages. A separate lifestyle, entertainment and the arts section is titled Life!. It is a member of the Asia News Network.
[edit] Criticism
The Straits Times is widely viewed a propaganda mouthpiece of the Singapore government, and its articles on politics are seen by critics as being biased towards the right-wing ideology of the ruling People's Action Party. Opposition figures are also given little or no press coverage, in terms of interviews or statements. One local political satire website has even gone so far as to jokingly label the newspaper as the "State's Times" [1].
The paper's links to the government are dictated by and enshrined in law. The Newspaper and Printing Presses Act of 1974 requires all newspapers to be publicly listed into both ordinary and management shares, with management shares having 200 times the voting rights of ordinary shares and approval from the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts needed for any management share transfers. Hence, past chairpersons of Singapore Press Holdings have all been civil servants, with notably strong links to Singapore's secret police, the Internal Security Department. In particular, SPH's current executive president Tjong Yik Min served as the head of the ISD from 1986 to 1993, and prominent political columnist Chua Lee Hoong and as well as editors Irene Ho and Susan Sim are all former ISD employees. [1]
Cherian George, a journalist and art editor of the paper, has given an insightful description of press workings in Singapore. He stated in a convention conference in 1998 at the University of California, Berkeley that "the PAP power is hegemonic power, in the Gramscian sense: it is a perfect blend of coercion and consent", concluding that "Singapore's newspapers are, at least in part, willing partners, of the state....the PAP did not suppress the press in order to cover up corruption or hide its mistakes. It did so out of a sincere belief that the press as an institution had a narrow and short-term view of the public interest, and that it could obstruct good government. Singapore's press model thus reverses the equation of your First Amendment. Here, the press, seen as the pure expression of democracy, is protected from the government, which, despite having been elected democratically, is assumed automatically by your political culture to have undemocratic tendencies. In the Singapore model, the elected government is the expression of democracy, and it is protected from the press, which is unelected and therefore undemocratic....
"the 'freedom from the press' model does mean that newspapers must operate within much narrower perimeters than their counterparts in most parts of the world. It must accept its subordinate role in society...The tone of stories must be respectful towards the country's leaders. They can be critical, but they cannot ridicule or lampoon." [2]
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has ranked Singapore 147th out of 166 countries in its second annual World Press Freedom Ranking in 2004. In 2005 Singapore's rating improved somewhat when it was ranked 140th by the same organization. However, this minute improvement was somewhat reversed in 2006, when it was ranked 146th out of 168 countries, close to its 2004 ranking by RSF. Lee Boon Yang, the Singapore Minister of Communication, Information and the Arts publicly protested against the basis on which Singapore was given the ranking. Instead, he asserted that the local press was running on a "different media model" from many of the countries gauged in the RSF rankings that has "evolved out of our (Singapore's) special circumstances" and was being "non-adversarial" towards the government. [3] George Yeo, when he held the same portfolio as Lee, also stressed that the media was not to be a "fourth estate" in ruling the country (presumably because the media lacks the mandate from the electors); instead, the role of the press was to aid "nation building", in view of Singapore's heterogeneous society and peculiar vulnerabilities as a small nation.
Owing to political sensitivities, the Straits Times is not sold in neighbouring Malaysia, and the Malaysian newspaper New Straits Times is not sold in Singapore. At one point, during an international dispute over the sale of water, the newspaper was banned in Malaysia.
[edit] Straits Times Interactive
Launched in 1999, the Straits Times Interactive was free of charge and granted access to all the sections and articles found in the print edition. On the 15 March 2005, the online version began requiring registration and after a short period became a paid access only site. Currently only people who pay to subscribe to the online edition can read the articles online.
Subscribers to the print edition need only pay half the rate to gain access to the online edition.
The Straits Times' decision to make its on-line edition entirely subscription-funded is in contrast to other traditional newspapers' online editions, which often only charge for certain sections (such as archives) or for digital editions.
[edit] Community programmes
[edit] The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund
The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund is a community fund set up by The Straits Times to ensure that less well-off pupils are adequately well-fed in schools. They are given either S$30 (for Primary School students) or S$50 (for Secondary School students) every month, to ensure that they have enough pocket money for their recess (breaks during school hours).
[edit] The Straits Times Media Club
The Straits Times Media Club is a youth programme to encourage Youth readership and interest in News and Current Affairs. Schools will have to subscribe for at least 500 copies, and will receive their papers every Monday. A Youth Newspaper, IN, is slotted in together with the main paper for the students.
[edit] The Straits Times School of Rock Competition
The Straits Times School of Rock Competition was incepted in 2005. Budding young bands with members aged between 13-18 compete to be the ultimate Youth Band in Singapore. The finals of the competition was held at a local shopping mall in small town, Bishan: Junction 8 on the 31st July 2005.
The band 3dash1 won against the 206 bands that signed up for the competition. 3dash1 comprises of the following members: Muhammad Ashik, 18, from Singapore Polytechnic, bassist Andhika, 17, from Nanyang Polytechnic and drummer Mohammed Nashir, 19, from ITE Simei. The band received prize money of S$5,000 (US$3,008), and was offered a management contract from artiste mangement company, Music & Movement.
[edit] The Straits Times National Schools Newspaper Competition
The National Schools Newspaper Competition started its inaugural year in 2005. Although 20 schools qualified for the semi-finals based on their school newsletters, only 10 schools made it to the finals. These 10 secondary schools then participated in the finals, a 24-hour challenge held at the SPH News Centre on 12-13 December 2005. The aim was to produce a 4 page, A3 sized newsletter within that time.
Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) beat 9 other schools to emerge as the "Gold" (1st) prize winner, taking home S$5,000 cash and a trophy. The team consisted of Timothy Fang, 15, Whang Yihang, 15, Michael Davies, 15, Mervyn Lau, 14, and Ian Yap, 14. Raffles Institution and CHIJ (St. Nicholas) came in "Silver" (2nd) and "Bronze" (3rd) winners respectively.
[edit] Notable personalities
- Cheong Yip Seng (Editor-in-Chief)
- Han Fook Kwang (Editor)
- Felix Soh (Deputy Editor)
- Zuraidah Ibrahim (Political Editor)
- Warren Fernandez (Foreign Editor)
- Sumiko Tan (Life!/Urban Editor)
- Susan Long (Journalist)
- Ching Cheong (Senior journalist - Presently held by Chinese authorities on espionage charges)
[edit] References
- Thio, HR and the Media in Singapore in HR and the Media, Robert Haas ed, Malaysia: AIDCOM 1996 69 at 72-5.
