The newspapers and Politics.

Was going through this with my class just now about how the press works and the dangers of government control over said institution when I realised that I've had this post in my head for the past couple of weeks and I haven't written it down yet.

How is it that one party gets to use the press in a way to hit the other over the head when the media in Singapore is not supposed to be the medium for partisan politics?
"Hmmm..." says I.
"Hmmm..." says the students.

Hmmm...

I guess it's not surprising to say that Singapore does not have a free press. It's been overtly controlled by the government, admittedly so at that, so no big shock there. But then again, the government's made up of primarily 1 party. So...What does that mean for the press?

Does it mean that the media is controlled by a single political entity which is not necessarily our elected government per se? Does that mean that the primary means of information dissemination in Singapore is worked by a partisan body? Does that mean that effectively rules regarding the media are set (and broken) by said majority power and is partisan?

Hmmm...

On the other hand, it's hard to believe that the Workers Party came up with a manifesto so flawed that if it were more flawed, we'd be walking on it? (Aural joke...listen to it) Maybe there's a conspiracy... (Oooo...) I figured that it sounded like someone from an opposition party sneaked into WP headquarters and messed around with their manifesto.

Hmmm...


Meanwhile, I'm bemoaning the fact that it's evident that elections are coming around and that means one whole day burned. Maybe my constituency will be a walkover. (It's all becoming so anyway...) Maybe I'll call in sick.

Hmmm...