Singapore media and psychology

Abstract

[Extract] Media development in Singapore: The media of Singapore play an important role in Singapore, one of the key strategic media centres in the Asia-Pacific region. This is in line with the government's aggressive push to establish Singapore as a media hub in the world under the Media 21 plan launched in 2002. Comprising the publishing, print, broadcasting, film, music, digital, and IT media sectors Collectively employed about 38,000 people and contributed 1.56% to Singapore's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2001 with an annual turnover of S$10 billion. The industry grew at an average rate of 7.7% annually from 1990 to 2000, and the government seeks to increase its GDP contribution to 3% by 2012. The Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts is the government's regulatory body that imposes and enforces regulation over locally produced media content. It also decides on the availability of published media from abroad. In 2012/13, Reporters Without Borders ranked Singapore 149 out of 179 countries in the Press Freedom Index, making it the worst country among other developed economies based on the Human Development Index, moving down 14 places from the 2011/2012 ranking. Most of the local media are directly or indirectly controlled by the government through shareholdings of these media entities by the state's investment arm Temasek Holdings, and are often perceived as pro-government.