Pathetic one-Sided Media Coverage Gonna Cost PAP Badly.

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

I seldom watch local news - boring as it is, long being the mouth piece of the ruling PAP. However since this is a general election, 1 has to stomach even that. So I have been making an effort to watch the news and election coverage on both TCS and Channel News Asia Singapore. They started off pretty A-Okay before Nomination Day, adequate coverage on the respective parties introduction's of candidates, with of course the PAP getting the lion's share, but I suppose it was passable.

But after Nomination Day it has gone all downhill. It started off at around 75% to 25% in the PAP's favour but since then, the TV stations have been nothing more than an additional mouthpiece for the PAP. Take a typical news segment on TCS 5. It begins with almost 20-25 minutes, covering each and every rally that the PAP is having, giving ministerial speeches the full monty. Then it breaks for around 10 minutes to cover the opposition ones, showing just snippets and mainly portions that do not seem to convey a proper message since it's just a half hearted approach.

Then in a final flurry, it goes to show campaigning on the ground earlier in the day, almost all of it, the PAP's and in particular its Ministers or the head honchos. Then for good measure it goes 'live' to guess where? Yes - a PAP rally. CNA is no better, sometimes even worse, the whole Singapore Tonight program should be renamed - PAP Tonight.

Frankly I dunno what it's trying to prove - perhaps it hopes to promote PAP's campaign and thus ensure a landslide PAP win. Possibly these program directors want to ingratiate themselves with the ruling party. Probably they think in doing so, they can convince voters to vote PAP in large numbers.

But the evidence on the ground seems to tell a completely different story. The first few days of the campaign it looked that perhaps, hopes for another opposition breakthrough might just not happen, that even the Worker's Party will struggle to hold on to its 7 elected MPs. However I think thanks to the skewed coverage by the media - the Singapore public has decided that it needs to look elsewhere for a more balanced view or at the very least hear what the other side has to offer.

I think many Singaporeans have realised that there was a clear and present danger that all their worries, causes for concern, all the difficulties that they have been under-going and even their anger was going to be swept under the carpet in a super-quick campaign. The PAP was deliberately trying to change the focus of the election with the only topic they thought they had the winning hand - Town Councils.

And so after few days, a major shift has occurred - the Worker's Party rallies usually confined to their strongholds of Hougang and now Aljunied was seeing a great mass of attendees even in other areas. And because there was a clear design to drown out the other parties notably the SDP, even their rallies picked up and now draw large crowds. Alternative sites like theonlinecitzen and TRE also have seen viewership rise. Youtube videos of rallies of all parties also have seen viewership rise, not to mention the re-sharing of videos of posts on social media. Heck even my tiny blog has seen a spike with some posts shared multiple times.

But perhaps the greatest proof of the shift and swing is from that 'shadowy group' who always seem to call elections right - 'the underground bookies.' They have been getting it right for at least the past 5 or 6 elections - yes even in 2011 they offered odds for 6.5. (It finished squarely at 6) This time it opened at around 9 to 9.5, however after a few days, even this has been withdrawn. No one really dares to offer odds now, because they expect that a possible tsunami might just be unleashed.

And a major part of this is due to what is seen by the PAP's arrogance and the TV station's coverage. The PAP has quietly been shielding the majority of its weaker and new candidates, only letting the Ministers talk with the media showing basically just that. If you want to hear a new candidate talk, you either have to go down to a rally - which few do except those that RC and CC provide buses and meals for, most of which their own fan boys. The TV stations shield them by only showing snippets of them doing something praiseworthy on the ground and saying positive things. But that's it - this whole campaign by the PAP has been a façade - to pretend and show that everything is alright and that people should just worry about their estate and TCs.

This goes completely against the grain to what has been said and transpired over these past 4 years, and we can even go 6-7 years before that. There is a growing realisation by ordinary voters that their concerns are being ignored or some excuse is being given for them anyway. And they see in the new PAP line-up - that same tired old mix of yes men - from civil servants, military men and high end executives all of whom are unwilling to rock the boat, all of whom are looking at furthering their own illustrious careers. The attempts by the media to show some of them as 'salt of the earth' rings hollow - many appear arrogant - Chee Hong Tat, Victor Lye and Lee Bee Wah prime examples. The rest like Darryl David, Sun XueLing, Joan Perera amongst others, trying to ingratiate themselves to 'Joe public' by playing up their 'so-called community work.'

Yet none of them, not 1 of them has come out to say that they will be prepared to ask hard questions, even risking the ire of their bosses. None of them will dare to be different. Almost all of them are more than happy to enter Parliament via the GRC backdoor. The prevailing mood on the ground is that the PAP is just trying to rush this election, secure Lee Hsien Loong's legacy, heave a sigh of relief when it's over and then resume the 'Singapore Business Corporation.'

Conclusion..

I think as we head towards the finish line, more and more Singaporeans are seeing that this could potentially be the last election where they could have a major say. That Singapore will be for Singaporeans. They are realising that grave dangers in returning the PAP to Parliament in such large numbers that any future protests or dislike of policies are going to be drowned out. The media coverage has been too one sided that it's so pathetic that few except those of a PAP flavour can actually buy it. The 'slap' in 2011 simply didn't work, perhaps a kick in the 'goolies' is what's needed now.

http://anyhowhantam.blogspot.sg/2015...age-gonna.html


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