TELEVISION IN SINGAPORE: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO ITS TELEVISION INDUSTRY
Keywords:
Singapore, Television, Ownership, Censorship, RegulationAbstract
TV arrived in Singapore on 15 February 1963 and since its inaugural launch Singapore’s TV industry has undoubtedly developed over the years. In the context of the four theories of the press, it can be quickly concluded that Singapore’s TV industry is Authoritarian by its regulative nature. Despite being a democratic country, the freedom to express freely what is on one’s mind through the use of TV as a medium is still extremely restrictive. As a result, there are many reasons as to why Singapore’s TV industry is still moderately unadventurous, especially where censorship is concerned. As the TV industry in Singapore is operated and fully controlled by the government, the content that appears on TV is usually highly censored, scripted to precision in accordance with the MDA guidelines, non-offensive and contain the usage of propaganda. This paper seeks to give a brief insight into not only the history and transformation of Singapore’s television (TV) industry to what it is today, but also to better understand how the said country’s TV industry currently operates, and how their content is produced as well as the impacts it has around the region.
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