CONSTRUCTING SINGAPORE'S CULTURAL AND POLITICAL NARRATIVES: A STUDY ON LEE KUAN YEW'S CONTROL OF THE MEDIA TO BUILD SINGAPORE

There are several ways how to understand culture - and also politics - in one country. One way is to look at the media that become the backbone of communication between the state and the people. The powerful media can be used to form people's understanding on "narratives" created by the state. The narratives on politics. freedom of the press. development. and economy are constructed in such a way that people cannot but accept what are presented through the media. Singapore'sfoundingfather Lee Kuan Yew - and also his successors - understood the powerful media could bring aboutfor Singapore's culture and politics. That is wiry Lee -and his successors - used the media to build andform Singapore's culture in the first place. Singapore's ethnic and cultural diversities - which consist of the Chinese. Indians. and Malays - are regarded as a potential conflict if the state fails to set up a "common denominator" for all Singaporeans. Based on this ground. Lee and his successors figured out what to do to cope with this problem. Lee and his successors came to a conclusion that Singapore government should make use of the media to spread the idea of Singapore culture of which characteristics are pluralistic. cosmopolitan. and meritocratic. The media have contributed to spread the so-called rujak lal/guage - or widely known as Singlish - a unique Singaporean English blended with Chinese. Malay and Indian. Singapore's broadcast media policy - radio and television - are deeply influenced by Lee Kuan Yew's vision of the city state. The media have been used to construct good narratives on Singapore's culture and politics

Evolution of a Free Press in Taiwan: A Case Study

In this case study, interviews with leaders of China Times and Central Daily, plus other mass media scholars and professionals, provide evidence that a free press in Taiwan evolved after a nearly four-decade old martial law was lifted in 1987. The interviews were based on the description of press philosophies by William A. Hachten (1981) to determine whether Taiwan\u27s press has changed from developmental to Western. Secondly, based on early work of Schramm (1964) and Lerner (1958), economic prosperity and political pluralism were studied as keys to the government\u27s relaxation of restrictions on the Taiwanese press. The finding of interviews in Taiwan support this point of view

Globalizing Terror

The globalization of terror is something new. It goes hand in hand with the globalization of the media. The creation of new media technology has created a public space in which political actors may perform: Terrorists are some of the actors who can now play on a global stage. Kosovo, Israel/Palestine, the twin towers terror is not a sometime thing. Man's inhumanity toward his fellow men makes terror a constant in human affairs. Not very long ago most of the terror was hidden beyond our willingness to wait for the news. That is no longer true. We experience the terror around the world

Realitas Politik Dalam Media Massa (Konstruksi Pemberitaan Media Massa Seputar 100 Hari Pemerintahan Jokowi-jk)

This journal focus on political news contruction about 100 days of Jokowi-JK's cabinet by Kompas, Republika and Media Indonesia newspapers. This topic is quite interesting to be published because it is an early evaluation to new government's work, and as a tool for citizen to measure government's ability in their first 100 days. Since the 100 days of Jokowi-JK's cabinet was an important issue, many electronic and printed mass media took it as a headline, so does Kompas, Republika and Media Indonesia. Every mass media has their own framing and characteristic to define 100 days of Jokowi-JK's cabinet issue