The decision to drop news channel Al Jazeera English from Singtel’s mio TV this month has only served to generate needless negative publicity for Singapore.
The Internet is abuzz with talk that this could be due to AJE’s coverage of Singapore in recent years.
The network has featured stories about poverty, prostitution, the integrated resorts, migrant labour abuse, housing and immigration policies, to name a few.
All of them are issues of interest to Singaporeans, well-covered by the local media.
In a Today newspaper report, Singtel explained the move was “to enhance our channel offerings … in order to address the demands and requirements of our customers.”
Since its launch in November 2006, AJE has become a major player in the international media, with a viewership of 200 million households spread across more than 100 countries.
It is a figure only bettered by the likes of BBC World News and CNN International. Both have been around for about two decades.
But neither has provided Singapore-specific coverage of socio-economic issues like AJE has in recent times.
The channel is also well-represented at the annual Asian Television Awards, an event supported by the Media Development Authority of Singapore.
Not only has it won and been nominated for awards, it has a regular presence in the judging panel too.
So I find it hard to understand how AJE does not “enhance mio TV’s channel offerings”, especially when its existing news channels are euronews, Russia Today and CCTV 9.
Do they better “address the demands and requirements” of the customers?
To pre-empt talk about my vested interest in the matter, it is perhaps best that I identify myself as a journalist with AJE and was responsible for some of the reports.
On each occasion, all parties involved in a story would be offered the right of reply. We do our best to provide a balanced report when a relevant party chooses to ignore us.
But this is written in my personal capacity as a Singaporean who continues to be a keen news watcher and a football fan, one among many that Singtel would surely love to lure over as a mio TV subscriber.
If nobody can provide a better reason for dropping AJE, it will only fuel speculation that the move was politically motivated.
In the meantime, while viewers can continue to watch AJE programmes online for free, who loses out from the negative publicity?
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By Chan Tau Chou
The author is a journalist with AJE
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lol, Mio TV’s loss.
i havent been watching Singapore “news” for some time.
lol, i mean to say im too dumb to watch any news.
My only question is, why Al-Jaz chose to pull the plug on Teymoor Nabili’s blog regarding the pullout, or did not officially mention it in their news?
Or is Al-Jaz feel that they are liable for lawsuits just like International Herald Tribune if they were to comment about it officially in their website or in their news.
Al-Jaz will not win any new friends and probably lose the old ones too if it were to cower in fear of lawsuits just because of a despot’s hold on our judiciary system; in fact it will be the laughing stock of the ‘international’ media.
Al-Jaz has nothing to fear if it reports on the truth
i thought i saw a ticket tape news about another media company may be offering the same channel?
AJ 1st came to my attention during the 911 attack news on TVs where other than the CNN and BBC, this was the other top news media to cover the 911 and iraq war. Its reputation is very high that even the Western media relies on it.
The writer has a point. But singtel belong to sin government. There no way they willing to let the truth out.
As long as the ruling party gains, this is of supreme importance based on years of what LKY power-politics is all about.
The ideology running here, is foreigners be very awared, is make your money and go, dont interfere in what I do to my people (in case aliens are still ignorant after all these donkey years of single-dominant-party politics prevalent in sing-ka-poor).
Well, don’t jump to conclusions just yet. It really could be a commercial decision. No matter what, Singtel has a business to run, and it is really their call. Their reluctance to date to release the subscription figures for Al Jazeera only makes it more suspicious, but do abide by “innocent until proven guilty”…
Actually, if Chan writes for them, I’m surprised that he does not have the inside story to enlighten us.
If nobody can provide a better reason for dropping AJE, it will only fuel speculation that the move was politically motivated.
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You want reasons?
I think I’m entitled to them.
You want reasons?
I want the truth!
You can’t handle the truth!
@HL
“Actually, if Chan writes for them, I’m surprised that he does not have the inside story to enlighten us.”
And I am suprised Singtel and Lui doesn’t have the figures to back him up.
Lets be smart abt it. AJ is off the air. So what? You can still get it online? Who even watches TV these days? There are many things you can still get online even if they are not highlighted, underscored or mentioned by the MSM. Reading is essentially self selecting. Take for example Singaporedaily, they no longer aggregate material from the Brotherhood Press. But does that change anything? Lets say they decide not to aggregate TOC, will that change anything?
If that were really true then there would not be so many tunnels in the chinese fire wall. Come on. This is no big deal.
As for Admiral Liu, he should try to help us all put food on the table by making the internet work for us, instead of wasting taxpayers money doing all this non value added nonsense.
I really think that all the foreign newspapers and magazines etc should just boycott any and all reporting on Singapore. If this Government cannot take criticism, it shouldn’t receive any praise either!
Nothing changes, at least while the leaders remain unchanged. Question is, do we have life everlasting on earth?
I wonder whether AJE will take Lui to court and sue him for defamation.
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In the same TODAY article, right at the very end, it was reported that Lui reasoned that AJE only began running the so-called unfavourable documentaries of the other dark side of Singapore when it discovered that it was on the verge of being dropped by Singtel.
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The insinuation is that AJE was purposely out to tarnish the image of Singapore by doing those unfavourable stories.
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If that is the case, then the other excuses we have heard from Singtel and Lui are nothing but lies.
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Why don’t they tell it right to AJE’s face that its conduct was the factor that saw its removal from Mio?
Why not send a email to AJ to inform them about this or get their comments?
>>And I am suprised Singtel and Lui doesn’t have the figures to back him up.
Everything in SIN city is based on “trust”
i stop using singtel phones….. so there!
@Alibaba.
That who should we trust? Sir
Aspiring journalists from Singapore can only hope to work in foreign news agencies like Al Jazeera, and then they are still subject to arm-twisting control in this manner. And the govt can continue to maintain that there is freedom of expression in Singapore. And Singaporeans have to live with the bunch of spineless cowards in SPH and mediacorp who are a disgrace to their profession and a disgrace to the nation.
@HL: one after another, foreign news agencies are forced to either play by the rules or get out of the country. What more proof do you need? Do you still need proof that the Singapore Justice system bends to the ruling party’s will? Do you still need proof that there is a systematic suppression of freedom of expression in Singapore?
@rainer: It matters, because not everybody is internet savvy. Television reaches out to a much broader demographic than the internet. It matters because every bit that’s taken away is a step in the wrong direction. Yours is the defiance of a prisoner: good for you that you have the means and the spirit, but you are still a prisoner!
@joe: Who you going to turn to? M1? SPH is major shareholder. Starhub? Mediacorp is major shareholder. OMG! THEY’RE EVERYWHERE!!!
the truth hurts. i guess our folks in the government are still arent matured enough to handle the truth, or how people perceive them.
whatever’s being said about us being dynamic, etc – sad to say we still got a long way to go.
Allowing AJE to carry on is like allowing the opposition a voice in Singapore’s mainstream media. Can that be allowed? Perhaps, only when pigs can fly!
The PAP is afraid to offend AJE since it is a middle east news entity. So what better way then to throw it out with a seemingly unrelated excuse.
Maturity is about honest fairmindedness. That is as far away from the govt’s mindset as earth is from the edge of the universe.
It’s fine not airing the programmes in Singapore as long as the rest of the world knows what’s happening here, our government values FACE more than anything else.
Excellent piece Mr Chan. TR has a story about how the alleged deal with M1 has been denied.
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/04/15/another-glaring-mistake-by-st-m1-did-not-ink-any-deal-with-al-jazeera/
As you correctly pointed out, the more twists there are in the story, the better AJE comes out…
I do not think that there is a single clear thinking individual who believes that more people in Singapore want to watch Russian TV News than Al Jazeera English (esp with its reporting on Singapore)
in the old days, it might be a loss. people could not get alternative media while being confined in singapore.
nowadays it is a loss to only the older generation who depend on the state media. the rest of us have not lost anything. al jazeera continues to broadcast to us. neither did we gain anything – we know what the state media is capable of and the kinds of excuses that get thrown up when it goes about exacting censorship. we don’t even gain anything in this respect – we don’t learn their new ways of doing things because it is nothing new.
we’re used to it, however, and it comes as no surprise. except nowadays we are not confined to the state media any more. the state is getting used to this as well, much to its dismay.
In my opinion this just proves that Singapore is a repressive state, which prove Reporters Without Borders are correct all along. As for whose lost is it, obviously our future generation. With early indoctrination from our education system, our younger generation will never grow up to be objective and have a mind of their own. The willingness to accept different views will be an alien concept to them. Hopefully with the internet they can learn there is life and views beyond our shores
al jazeera english has been making waves with the news it reports. though factual, some have politically threatened our government; like that on singapore’s poor, for instance. no matter how insignificant a segment, stuff like that gives the government bad publicity and casts them in negative light. the government therefore finds independent news agencies, like al jazeera, a bad influence to the masses and a malignant threat to be at once removed.
i read the article in the straits times,if it’s a business decision,why singtel have to approach Lui? i’ve even channel surf contents which are even less viewership,why aren’t they drop?pls la,only they think they are smart,others are less mortal…
i dont believe its a commercial reason. if it is, there is no way it could have been done suddenly. AJE must have been notified of supposed “low viewership” by MIO for months ahead of the decision giving AJE opportunities to beef up its viewership. AJE must also have been notified by MIO of impending cancelation unless AJE meets some targets. Since this wasnt the case, its clear AJE was dropped for political reasons and not commercial reasons.
What does AJE charge the service provider for its content? What are the viewership figures for AJE? And how would offering/not offering AJE on MioTV affect SingTel’s bottom line?
If the writer (who is from AJE) can provide these figures, it would help TOC readers better assess for themselves whether the “commercial reasons” for AJE’s exclusion are valid.
If SingTel does not see it financially viable to offer AJE, and local AJE viewers can see the channel on the internet, the only loser would be AJE, is it not?
To some of the earlier comments, it is usually convenient to cite “political reasons”, but this should not be an excuse to forgo conventional analysis and logic.
(And on the subject of vested interests, I should mention that I still have my small allotment of Singtel shares from the initial IPO, and would like to see their value go up)
The writer has a strong Point! :-)
The gament has a strong Paw! :-(
They removed it right after they broadcasted that homeless episode… Who are they fooling?
@ Jezebella:
They are fooling tons of blind singaporeans who unfortunately is quite a large majority of MSM followers.
why need AJ when you now have Charlie Rose? kekeke
@ Kwa Gek Geok
the gov loves charlie coz he only asks softball questions.
Try bbc hardtalk and see how the pm will fumble.
After I wrote this, ST published the article “Al-Jazeera dropped from SingTel mioTV”.
In it, RADM Lui Tuck Yew – the acting MICA minister – said the reason was because subscription for the news channel was low.
He added it was not because the network had done unflattering stories about Singapore.
The unquestioning nature of this news report was rather disappointing.
The minister’s explanation hardly paints the complete picture. Below are a few facts anyone can find with a few clicks of the mouse.
Until it was dropped, Al Jazeera English (AJE) was only available on mio TV, which penetrated 155,000 households in Singapore as at the end of last year.
That is only a fraction of Starhub Cable Vision’s (SCV) subscription of 550,000 households.
Also, AJE was not made part of the standard news package. It was the only news channel that viewers had to pay an additional fee to watch it.
Under such circumstances, of course the subscription rate would be low. But was there ever a level playing field?
In the report, RADM Lui denied Singapore’s unfair treatment towards AJE vis-à-vis other international news channels.
Did anyone find it necessary to ask MICA or MDA why in the first place, was AJE not on SCV or even in hotel rooms?
After all, any international network seeking to penetrate the Singapore air space would try to be on these platforms for greater visibility.
It seems unusual that Singapore – a regional media hub – appears to make it hard for viewers to watch AJE when it is easily available in our neighbouring countries.
The resulting ignorance is why until today, Singaporeans who should know better – journalists and government ministers included – continue to perceive AJE as an Arabic channel known for controversial reports, airing of beheading videos and tapes from Osama bin Laden.
Perhaps people will be better able to separate fact from fiction when they actually get a chance to see the channel.
As this is written in my personal capacity, I am not at liberty to discuss this in greater detail. The facts provided here are all publicly available information.
Thanks for the responses.
If you read the logic here, the real winners here are …us, the Singapore viewers. I mean, at a single stroke, SingTel has ensured that we would not be disturbed by unsightly things like…news coverage and will continue to live our happy little lives far removed from things like actual news….
I mean, as one member of the main stream media said,”News is NOTHING.”
Chan Tau Chou, when a door closes another opens.
Not only is Singapore censoring AJE content; It’s also blocking online comments sent to the network!
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The PAP is burying its head in the sand in hopes that its body of works also becomes invisible to the citizenry and to the International Community. But the fact is the virulent judiciary operating ferociously for LKY and his gang and the ISD its mafia arm is becoming common coinage on the world stage. The loss of Al Jazeera will not prevent the spread of information about the bad news in Singapore.