'Our Gatekeepers'

It is generally observed that political parties in Singapore play a huge role in setting the media agenda, influencing the content of the media content and could possible have induced media owners to practice self-censorship.

In the last three decades, Singapore’s ruling party have brought more than a dozen defamation suits against opposition parties and the media. These cases usually concern statements made by the opposition or published in various publications that do not favour the ruling party. The ruling party has succeeded in every defamation case against the opposition to financially cripple them and destroying their political careers. The defendants are usually made bankrupts and in some instances, even fled the country in exile. Publishers being sued have either been made to pay hefty damages or publish unqualified apologies as well as having their publications banned from circulation in Singapore. These continuous string of defamation actions as aforesaid has caused the general public to be very cautious in expressing their views. This subject matter has received great attention internationally and Singapore has been strongly criticized in this regard by foreign Courts and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) such as the International Commission of Jurists and Amnesty International.

The Singapore Government has also been active in using defamation to control the media including foreign publications such as Asian Wall Street Journal, the Far Eastern Economic Review (“FEER”), the International Herald Tribune and The Economist. In every case, the publications carried statements not favouring the Singapore Government or members of the ruling party. Under the pressures of defamation actions, the respective publications have either been ordered to pay heavy damages or publish unqualified apologies, and in some instances, their circulation was also banned in Singapore.

Another case in point is former NUS senior lecturer, Mr. Christopher Lingle, who wrote an essay entitled “The Smoke over Parts of Asia Obscures Some Profound Concerns” that was published in the International Herald Tribune. The article mentioned about ‘the government relying upon a compliant judiciary to bankrupt opposition politicians in suppressing dissent’. Although no country was named in the article, Mr. Christopher Lingle was still sued for defamation by the ruling party who went to great lengths to prove that he was indeed writing on Singapore in his article. This eventually led to him fleeing the country.

Moving on, in Year 2000, a Speakers’ Corner was set up in Hong Lim Park to provide an avenue for the public to voice their opinions. There were about 400 speakers registering to speak in the first year but this number dwindled to 26 by 2006. This is because one must obtain a permit with the Police before being allowed to speak. All statements will also be recorded and may be used in defamation suits against the speaker. The Speakers’ Corner has ironically become the best example of how freedom of speech is suppressed under the fear and threat of defamation.

Also interesting to note here is the Internal Security Act (Chapter 143) which is the other tool the Singapore Government employs against oppositions and dissidents. The Act provides for imprisonment without judicial approval, which gives the Government the power to detain citizens arbitrarily and indefinitely without trial. One of the landmark cases in which the Act was invoked by the Government was ‘Operation Spectrum’ in 1987 where several people were arrested for conspiring in a Marxist plot to overthrow the Government. Mr. Francis Seow, former Solicitor-General of Singapore, was also detained under the Act when he attempted to represent those arrested as aforesaid. This 1987 case attracted great attention worldwide and the Singapore Government received strong international criticisms for violation of human rights. It is speculated that under such international pressure which arose from this 1987 case, the Singapore Government exercised more reservations thereafter in invoking the Internal Security Act, and thereon relied more on defamation as their primary weapon to stifle dissent.

The apparent freedom of speech is being restrained and suppressed, and people have the tendency to refrain from expressing their thoughts and views in fear of being sued for defamation, causing the 'spiral of silence'. The use of defamation also inevitably control and alter the public’s expression of their views and opinions. The past defamation cases against print publications also influences and affects media coverage, and causing media owners and reporters to exercise self-censorship. It is only with hope that in time to come, Singaporeans will be given greater freedom of speech to express themselves freely with no reservations.

Cultural Revolution

The Cultural Revolution is one of the darkest period in recent Chinese history. Spanning a period of 10 years from 1966 to 1976, aside from the political, economic and social violence and chaos, it was a time of twisted and extreme manipulation of mass communications which turned an entire country upside down and putting its people in great turmoil and sufferings. It was time where black was white and right was wrong; where children turned against their parents and students attacked their teachers; where the intellectuals and educated were sent for corrective hard labour to work in the hills and rice fields.

The Cultural Revolution was launched by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 as an attempt to regain political power by mobilising and enpowering China's youths to continue the path of revolution, to rid China of the "Four Olds" being old customs, old culture, old habits and old ideas, and at the same time promoting the "Four Great Freedoms" namely the right to speak out freely, to air one's views fully, to write big-character posters and to hold great debates. While the original notions behind these "Four Olds" and "Four Great Freedoms" was applaudable and noble, Mao allowed China's angry youths and teenagers to misinterpret and twist the idealogies to the extreme.

It started with one incident where a group of young students ganged up in the name and pretext of Mao's Cultural Revolution against their teacher for reprimanding them and eventually killing that teacher by hitting her to death with wooden rods. And when Mao approved in silence to that incident, the flames of youth revolution soon spread across the entire nation like wild fire becoming an unstoppable force. Such was the power of the masses. The youths organised themselves as Red Guards swearing loyalty to Mao, grouping together in huge masses and travelled the country carrying out Mao's ideals to rid the "Old Fours"; this was executed to such an extreme that everything that was "old" was destroyed - including tombs, temples, statutes, antiques, cultural relics and treasures - resulting in irreparable damage and loss. 5,000 years of Chinese heritage and treasure was nearly annihilated and destroyed in a few short years by brainwashed dellusioned mobs. Luckily for China, the youths had great respect for the then Premier Zhou Enlai who stopped them from destroying many priceless antiques and historical relics, thus preserving a piece of Chinese culture and history. Also in great irony was the "Four Great Freedoms" stated above, while it supposedly promoted freedom of speech, at the same time a cloud of great fear loomed over the entire nation for anyone saying or acting in any manner that was "counter-revolutionary" would be immediately branded a "counter-revolutionary" and then trialed and possibly killed on the spot by angry masses. The problem was the definition of "counter-revolutionary" - it was open to any kind of interpretation at the whims and fancies of the young Red Guards, resulting in countless tragedies where innocents were killed under this label. At its peak, children were encouraged to turn in their parents as being "counter-revolutionaries" and wifes point fingers at their husbands for acting "counter-revolutionary"; the act could be as simple as possessing an antique piece of jade, or secretly praying to a god, or even for singing any song that is not a "revolution song". And the punishment was often being stoned or bitten to death by the masses. The children and wife who turned their parents and husbands in would then be praised and held in high esteem as a patriotic revolutionary.

The following 2 video footages depicts clearly the chaos and madness that was the Cultural Revolution:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p63xt5AlahY&NR=1 (Footage of destruction by red guards)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EincWbFAyM (Red Guard Anthem Revolutionary Song)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLtoZTLMR3k (Communications: Mao enpowering Red Guards changing name of young girl from "Bing Bing" to "Yao Wu")

The power of mass communications. At an age in China where the internet was not yet in existance, where even the telephone was a rare luxury, how did the fire spread so fast the it consumed an entire nation of over a billion people? The target masses were young teenagers and youths who were very impressionable and easily influenced and manipulated, and the strength soon grew to include a majority of uneducated blue collar workers, labourers and farmers to the exclusion of the intellectuals and highly educated. Aside from propaganda radio which was not accessible in many remoter areas of China then, the main means of communications in fanning the fires of the Cultural Revolution was word of mouth and the "little red book" which was a small book containing the revolutionary thoughts and teachings of Mao. This red book acted as the bible to the revolution fanatics then. Such was the strength and alarming power of mass communications. And it was not a mere fade but instead a painful and sorrowful decade that has left permanent scars in Chinese history and culture, that even today, some 30 years after the end of the Cultural Revolution, China has still not yet fully recovered from the destruction and damage done during the Cultural Revolution.

How Communication Evolved with the Introduction of World-Wide Web and the Internet

Today, as long as you own a computer, a webcam and have an opinion about any issue, you can freely air and publish your opinions on the web, expressing yourself unreservedly and with no qualms. The post would be easily accessible to everyone around the globe, gaining you unlimited potential readers. This is the wonders of the World-Web Web (WWW). This whole new medium of Internet communications has brought us to a whole new level, different from the times of pre-internet age, where print and television publications were high in demand and exclusive. With the use of internet, even misinformation could be easily corrected within a few seconds.

The downside of the use of cyberspace is that people tend to lean towards the most mental, absurd, ridiculous and inhuman spectacles - as it often gain the most attention amongst people. In retrospect, a speech by some politician or philanthropist may be considered boring and gain near-to zero audience with zero comments. Yet celebrities who slipped and fell, accidentally exposing themselves or making a ridicule of themselves in public or even scolding profanities at some random guy will gain much more publicity and participation amongst people in discussion.

Moving on, how often do you hear the word 'lol' (laugh out loud) or 'j/k' (joking) or 'ttly' (talk to you later)? All this jargon seem vaguely familiar to all of us because we use this to communicate electronically in cyberspace, discussion forums, and even text messenging. Teenagers nowadays even use this to communicate interpersonally and this poses a question for us as to whether this affects inidvidual language skills and impede in student's learning process.

Furthermore, internet communication is a delicate issue when it comes to human relationships over the web. Due to the absence of the non-verbal communication, one cannot see the other party's actions or feel the full intent behind every remark. This is especially true between arguments on the web, where human elements like compromising and politeness may be missing and it comes off as a full-blown attack on each other. Therefore, it is imperative that people should be more sensitive and aware of what they type and send. Indeed, some major organizations also monitor their employees' emails, ensuring that every typed email is written professionally to their clients.

Indeed, with the help of the internet, communications has become easier, yet it also means that the electronic age has worsened our social skills. Our 'communications' through the internet seems to lack human connectedness which might cause lack of confidence and also the lack of confidants. With such rampant use of instant text messenging, emails etc, we are losing the personal touch of connecting and keeping in touch with close ones. An interesting news story by MSNBC.com states that "an authoritative study in the American Sociological Review found that the average American had only two close friends in whom they would confide on important matters, down from an average of three in 1985. The number of people who said they had no such confidant soared from 10 percent in 1985 to nearly 25 percent in 2004; an additional 19 percent said they had only one confidant — often their spouse." Shocking, isn't it?

Effective Communication

Group communication has always seem challenging to me. One does not have the luxury to choose one's perfect group-mates or the simplest task or sufficient resources to work with. Having been through my vacation job previously as a cosmetics sales promoter, it provided me with more insights in working within a team and as an individual to hit my sales target.

In this sales line, it is very competitive and every single minute counts as our salary is mainly commission-based. Even though the company is constantly stressing about teamwork, it rarely happens because individual sales target not only concerns money issues but one's work performance. Without a manager around to supervise us, the relationship between colleagues is quite straining at times and may indirectly affect the customers as the mood and tension could be felt strongly.

To further illustrate my point, I personally feel that The Apprentice by Donald Trump shows very good examples. Each season, there are two teams which are given tasks to complete and the losing team will have to attend the boardroom for evaluation and deliberation for someone to be fired. During each episode, it is clearly shown the relationships between one another, how the team operates, different leadership styles of each individual leader, the various steps taken to reach their ultimate goal.

In the video shown below, it is the final scene in the boardroom and it shows the leader resigning herself before deliberation. She complained about the harsh conditions and was not fully informed about the working and living conditions that she was signed up for, hence she resigned. It shows that communicating for her seems tough and because of the setback and the poorly performed task that she has led her team to failure, hence she resigned due to overwhelming pressure. Even after the boardroom, while packing her bags, she kept asking her team-mates to support her and all her team-mates were angry with her and blaming the leader for not standing by them.




The second video also depicts the importance of effective group communication when people of different backgrounds and cultures come together. It shows the characters of the team(s) and especially the leader, Michelle (who resigned herself), how she procrastinated and lacked to make a decision at the most critical time.

Hitched!

Re-watching this movie 'Hitch', starring lead actor Will Smith, represents the importance of the role of communication in relationships. People cannot really communicate well when it comes to interpersonal communication especially when it comes to interacting with the opposite sex. Many a time, we wished we could seek professional help in courtship. This is what the movie 'Hitch' is about. Will Smith plays the role of Hitch who provides professional help to men who has met their dream woman, but would not have the guts to approach them, much less know how to react around them. In this movie and the clips attached above, he is coaching this plump guy, Albert who is a social reject and helps him to chase after the woman of his dreams, who is a successful and popular woman who is always under the spotlight and scrutiny of media coverage.

In communication, first impression counts and since physical appearance has the biggest impact, Albert (due to his bigger size and huge tummy) has inferiority complex. Hitch's job is to help him overcome it, and projects confidence in pursuing his dream woman. Based on the second video on his personal dance which Albert thought was good, his dance is socially awkward and repelling. Hitch warned him never to do that dance again, and Albert replied 'I'm just expressing myself', rubbing his palms on his pockets embarrassingly.

Although Albert was taught to learn how to dance from Hitch, as the movie progresses, he ended up being himself and did his personal dance during the night out with his date. With inference from the movie, there was a twist to the story as the girl really liked him for who he really is even though the dance moves were slightly awkward and out of the norm. This goes to show that there is always an exception to the general rule, when it comes to interpersonal communication, that not one formula of communication works for every single individual. No two persons are alike, hence depending on case-by case basis. In this scenario, bringing on a very strong point, dissimilarities and complementary differences work for this couple, as the girl preferred Albert rather than those group of rich men who always hang around her, and are arrogant and snobbish.

In addition, in the case of Will Smith chasing after Eva Mendes, he tried to engage her into a first date by using a walkie-talkie to converse with her. He employed an interesting way of approaching her and Eva reciprocated while being intrigued and surprised with the novelty of communicating via a walkie-talkie.

Despite the fact that there is general social norm of general communication, there is still a small little class of people who implements unorthodox or alternative means of communication which works better for them. Even though the movie talks about effective means of communication, the best way of communication is still communicating with the heart and sincerity, which both men succeeded in winning the fair lady's heart.

Advertising Humor

Plenty of advertisements (ads) are shown everyday, and our brains are very selective as to how we perceive them and whether we can retain the information accurately. Every single ad is vying for attention and media companies are constantly finding new novelties to bombard people with stimuli.

Nowadays, companies have resorted to applying humor in print and TV advertising to capture its audience's attention. Sometimes, the purpose of the ads is not designed to hard-sell its products or make consumers to purchase them; but rather to enable them to recall their brand rather than a competitor's brand. In this way, using humor in ads can be quite effective and is able to communicate their message to their audience in a new novelty manner.

Moreover, our memory is fallible and with this in mind, ads are usually designed to make it easy to listen to, making it intense and novel. For humorous ads, sometimes colours are more vivid and intense, with loud sounds and visuals that are sometimes provocative and controversial that makes it more unforgettable.

Examples of ads that are humorous and controversial:








However, using humor in ads may also be quite risky and backfire. A good balance has to be struck in order that the humor delivers the desired positive impact instead of offending viewers. In these ads (above) - its strong visuals, bold headlines, sex and humor worked really well together. These advertising humor also works best with commonly purchased products and established brands. Not much text were used in the ads and it was very suggestive and non-verbal communication played a huge part in communicating its message to the audience.

In the case of the "condom commercial", the boy's screams and wails while making an embarrassing scene in the supermarket, as his father looked on with complete exasperation effectively communicates the message across. The use of body language and eye-contacts are used appropriately in the scenarios as well, especially the suggestive and averting eye-contacts in the Sweden Newspaper TV Ad. Some people may find it insulting or some find it humorous. So it's a either a love-or-hate commercial, don't you agree?

La Proposition d'Affaires

This video was nicely done by my ex-poly coursemates and my ex-lecturer who is also starred as the leading actor in this video.

Brillant, isn't it?

This video is shown to re-iterate my points in previous post regarding the use of Singlish. This video shows how Singlish is used in our everyday lives and it also shows a glimpse of our Singapore culture to a certain extent.

Enjoy the video! =)