Certainly not!!!

153rd out of 195 countries is too flattering. 188th sounds about right.

From the perception of this country, top ranking in talent or economic generating related spots will be their priority, unless Press freedom will one day be a related issues.

A press which cannot question the objectives, intentions and ideals of the Government, and has many former Government Servants in high profile positions in its editorial team is really no press at all.

While legislation in Iraq does guarentee some form of freedom for the press, there are still restrictions. As quoted from Freedom House’s report on Iraq:

“Legal analysts have noted that some archaic laws dating from Saddam Hussein’s rule remain on the books, including restrictive insult, antidefamation, and state secrecy legislation.”

Besides such legal wranglings, journalists there have to deal with sectarian violence, not to mention terrorists who are more than happy to pump bullets into them.

Nevertheless, despite the relative peace in Singapore, that does not mean that the press here is healthy. I hinted at that towards the end of my article.

And yes, TOC has vetted this article.

You’ll also find that there are very few TV shows in which politicians come in to be interviewed and grilled about government policy by broadcast journalists. The media doesn’t try to hold the government accountable, and when it does criticise, it does so within vaguely defined ‘OB markers’.

Lets face it, Singapore deserves its press ranking because its mainstream media is tightly controlled. It doesn’t ask the government difficult questions, and is serves a different function – that of helping the govenrment govern, rather than checking it. This function is recognised by the PAP. The PAPer, the PAP doesn’t pretend that there’s press freedom, it merely says that in Singapore, the press should perform a different function, because they are not elected, and if set free, will get in the way of governance.

The question is more an issue of whether the PAP’s press model is desirable

> Iraq seems to be in a worse situation – the nation remains an extremely dangerous place for journalists, and not just because it is a nation at war.

You have confused “press freedom” with “working conditions”. Clearly, with an US-installed govt in Iraq, you would expect legislations and political inclinations to have a free press.

Whether reporters are fired at or served as “collateral damage” is irrelevant to the measure of “press freedom”.

Have the TOC editors vetted this article before putting it up?

In any cases, there is hardly any worthy news to report in Singapore since the Internet has so many more interesting stories.