The Media Enthralled: Singapore Revisited

Once a proud and independent institution, the Singapore press was brought to its knees by threats, arbitrary arrests and detentions, general harassment, and litigation during Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s administration. Singapore’s former solicitor general, Francis T. Seow, tells this story, documenting the demise of the Eastern Sun, the Nan}/ang Siang Pau, and the Singapore Herald (among other news publications), as well as the severe curbs placed on foreign journalists reporting on Singapore. By the early 19805, Singapore’s entire press establishment had been restructured; with founding owners forced to divest their holdings of newspaper companies. Since then, as Seow substantiates the press has become the mouthpiece of the state, using invidious self-censorship to distort the news.