Introduction:
The use of media in Singapore plays a very crucial role in the country. It is one of the most important and key strategic centers of media in the region of Asia-Pacific. This is agreement with the aggressive push of the government to establish the region of Singapore as one of the media hubs across the world under the plan of media twenty one that was launched back in 2002. The media industry is widely grown at the moment in Singapore and comprises of activities such as broadcasting, publishing, music, film, and the IT media sectors (Wong, 2001). According to the International Monetary Fund report of 2013, the industry is known to employ an approximate of thirty eight thousand people in Singapore forming one of the major contributors to the Gross domestic product of Singapore ("IMF -- International Monetary Fund Home Page", 2014).
Freedom of media:
The media should have a certain level of freedom where both the citizens and the people working in the media are comfortable. The government should work to ensure that the only thing the media should consider is that even though they have the freedom, they must consider what they present and to what extend in order to avoid compromising the freedom of other citizens by presenting their information. In Singapore, there is the need to allow censorship and free access to information (Teo, 2005, pp. 195-200). It was indicated in the press freedom index of 2013 that past situations of media regulation have made Singapore to be ranked in position one hundred and forty nine out of the overall one hundred and seventy nine countries when it came to the index of press freedom. Finland was at the top of the table whereas Eritrea was ranked the lowest.
Advantages of censorship:
Looking at the advantages of censorship in Singapore, the first consideration is the advantages of having new technologies. There is a general improvement in the countries technology level and systems when each individual is given free access to media information (Singapore, 2000, pp.235-242). In turn, the country’s economy will be boosted through improvement of technology.
Allowing free access of information and free and flexible media rules will generally improve the security levels of Singapore. This might form an easy way of forming a perfect community policing system where the country has to involve the community in maintaining its national security. Peoples are always afraid of disclosing security related information when it comes to reporting crime related issues and offering evidence to court which is vital for police investigation purposes (Lee, 2010, pp. 90-97). Creating platforms where citizens can participate in maintaining the country’s security can be achieved by allowing free access to information both on the internet and other sources of media information such as televisions and the press.
Shortfalls of Censorship:
Another reason for incorporating censorship in Singapore is that the media can have altered information to their customers that may cause negative results. The major shortfall of censorship in Singapore is that the problem of new technology and censorship itself is best highlighted by the use of the internet. Internet is only available to tertiary learning institutions through the TechNet service (Singapore, 2005, pp. 113-115). It is also available to business subscribers alone. This, therefore, might limit the number of people who might be able to get access to information through the internet.
The use of media regulated sources:
The use of media in Singapore can be used to capture a biggest portion of the population as compared to censorship. Even though media regulation is an issue in Singapore, it can be an effective method of ensuring that some information that may trigger anxiety within the citizens and even cause chaos and riots in the country is well protected from being accessed. That forms one of the major disadvantages of media, a situation where information being relayed to citizens might have negative influence on the country (Wong, 2013, pp. 245-250).
In summary, I would recommend the use of censorship and the flexibility of the freedom of media in general. This would ensure that the country has a lot of sources of reliable information once it is relayed.
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References
Teo, Y. -L. (2005). Media law in Singapore. Singapore: Sweet & Maxwell Asia.
Ganeev, R. A. (2012). High-Order Harmonic Generation in Laser Plasma Plumes. Singapore: World Scientific.
Singapore (2000). Social studies: Exploring world events. Singapore: Educational Technology Division.
Lee, T. (2010). The media, cultural control and government in Singapore. London: Routledge.
Singapore, Singapore, & Ngee Ann Polytechnic (2005). Born in Singapore. Singapore: National Heritage Board.
Wong, K. (2001). Media and culture in Singapore: A theory of controlled commodification. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
IMF -- International Monetary Fund Home Page. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1, 2014,
