July 14, 2021

The Straits Times was established on 15 July 1845 as the Straits Times and Singapore Journal of Commerce. With the rise of new media and citizen journalism, traditional journalism has had to quickly adapt.

In the article ‘When new media operates within a state-mediated press system: assessing new media’s impact on journalism crisis perceptions in Singapore and Hong Kong’ (Information, Communication and Society, 2018), Dr Wu Shangyuan (NUS Department of Communications and New Media) examines the factors behind how journalists assess the impact of new media, particularly in Hong Kong and Singapore, whose societies are influenced by Western liberal ideals but continue to practice a semblance of authoritarianism in their governance. She describes the journalism crisis as the shift in media consumption habits, the increased commercialization of the press, the consolidation of media ownership, and the loss of public trust in mainstream media.

Overall perception towards the journalism crisis is low in Singapore, due to trust in the government’s management of the press. Moreover, journalists do not feel threatened by competition from digital news platforms because their news organization’s digital strategies have been largely successful in reaching a much wider audience base. Conversely, Dr Wu highlights that mainland Chinese influence on Hong Kong’s media has resulted in audiences migrating to online news sources in search for more issues and perspectives that differ from the official stance toed by traditional media outlets. Hong Kong journalists also face many more difficulties in leveraging on the internet, due to its highly saturated and competitive media landscape.

However, self-censorship remains a concern to both Singapore and Hong Kong journalists. Dr Wu remarks that Hong Kong journalists must self-censor, especially when reporting sensitive news relating to China. Although citizen journalists online have been doing a relatively good job in providing news coverage where mainstream media outlets cannot, online content is still skewed towards sensationalizing news to garner a larger audience. On the other hand, while Singapore’s top-down hierarchical approach to news writing results in a certain degree of self-censorship, Dr Wu notes that the presence of online discussions allow journalists room to respond with a wider scope of news covered so as to not damage public credibility.

The article concludes that while Hong Kong journalists are disillusioned with both online and offline news content, traditional media outlets in Singapore are still seen as more trustworthy than online media content.

Read the article here.