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Community Issues  MediaWorks
vs MediaCorp
In recent days, there has been a debate on the rivalry between
MediaWorks and MediaCorp. The local media as well as the general
community have sought to air their views on the matter.
Our task is not to comment on the issue, but to put information
collected from various sources here and let you form your own opinion.
Excerpt of a letter by Marilyn Ho, Vice-President, Group Communications,
MediaCorp, to Forum, The Straits Times of 18 Nov 2000.
"...Our non-coverage of The Straits Times Duck Race might appear to
Mr Wong to be biased but we can assure him that it was not. It was an
editorial judgment made impartially on a day when there were other
pressing news events, such as the developments on the SQ006 crash, the
inconclusive US presidential elections, Remembrance Day at the Kranji
War Memorial, the Apec meeting in Brunei, a Community Development
Council Programme by Jalan Besar Town Council to improve the area and
many more.
"It was an unbiased editorial judgment call which, in retrospect,
one might say could be made differently or better. There are always
different views on such matters. Our editorial staff only hope that
there is an enlightened audience out there who would see their point of
view.
"Mr Wong mentioned the missing ST headlines on News Radio 93.8's
local and international newspaper round-up segment. There were many
newspapers with many headlines in Singapore and worldwide for us to
cover in 2½ minutes over the air. Here again it was an editorial
judgment call as to which newspapers had the more newsworthy headlines,
and which headlines to include that could give more value to our
listeners..."
Marilyn
HO
Excerpt of a letter to Forum, The Straits Times dated 15 Nov 2000
"On Sunday night, I was watching television, looking out for TCS's
news coverage of The Straits Times Million Dollar Duck Race at the
Singapore River. However, nothing on the charity event - which was
graced by no less a person than President S.R. Nathan - was telecast. It
was as if such an event in the Singapore calendar had never happened. "On Monday morning,
while listening to NewsRadio 93.8 FM, I noticed that when it came to the
segment where headlines from regional and local newspapers are reported,
NewsRadio mentioned only the headlines from MediaCorp's Today newspaper.
Nothing was said about the headlines from The Straits Times, a
highly-respected local newspaper that is available in many Asean
countries.
"I find it extremely disturbing that with the advent of Today,
MediaCorp has decided to black out all mention of things remotely
related to The Straits Times, including a highly newsworthy local event
like the charity Duck Race, simply because it is organised by its
competitor...."
WONG Nian Jun
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