GP project

2008-05-21T08:16:00.008+08:00

Taiwan-Libertariansince1987

In 2008, of the 195 countries and territories included in the rankings, Taiwan was ranked 32nd, up one place from last year by Freedom House which rated each country's legal, political and economic environment, as well as the degree to which each of these factors affected media freedom.

Function

To inform, entertain, sell, discover truth and check on the government. The media policies the government to surface any wrong doing.

Ownership

Taiwan's largest-circulation newspapers, the United Daily News and the China Times, are private enterprises, independent of government control. Newspapers published by the government and the ruling party have lost readership, profitability, and, most importantly, influence.

How are media controlled?

By 'self-righting process of truth' in 'free marketplace of ideas' and by court.

Judicial system

Use of libel suits
Antonio Chiang, publisher of the Taiwan Daily, said that, as a result of libel laws dating back to the 1930s, his main job was "to go to court." In a six-month period, the paper was sued three times for libel. This shows that although the island's fledgling democracy is actively breaking from its martial law past, the island's outdated libel laws are still on the statute-books.

Criminal libel suits
Influential figures, particularly the rich and powerful use means like this to threaten, intimidate, and curtail the press from publishing reports which they consider offensive or revealing of their illegal activities. It can land a journalist in jail. This shows that judicial system is still widely viewed by the public as not yet totally independent and free from political or monetary influence.

Non-judicial system

Others
Certain gangsters and politicians connected with organized crime have simply arranged to have investigative journalists beaten up or their property destroyed.

What is forbidden?

Sedition
On 14 April 2005, Taiwan authorities banned news agency Xinhua and the People's Daily for the journalists were contributing to misunderstandings between Taiwan and China, claimed Joseph Wu, the overall in charge of relations with China. They had done this through inaccurate articles that played down protest movements against the controversial 14 March 2005 anti-secession law that allows the use of force against Taiwan should it declare its independence.

Acknowledgements

JJC GP Content Pack
http://www.gio.gov.tw/info/ipi/coping.htm
http://www.unpo.org/content/view/8090/146/
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=13199

2008-05-20T22:22:00.008+08:00

China

Censorship

Censorship defines the environment in which the Chinese press has operated since the late nineteenth century. China's print and broadcast media, journals, books, television, movies, literature, arts, and cultural establishments are controlled by the Communist Party.
As a matter of control, newspapers have a strict editing system. The Central Committee Secretariat inspects important manuscripts at the People's Daily. The provincial CCP secretaries supervise propaganda work in the provincial newspaper articles. For editors and journalists, in the danger of post-publication, the punishment ranges from writing self-criticism to imprisonment.

What is forbidden

Theoretically, Chinese citizens have the right to criticize the government, but this is not guaranteed. The Fifty-first Article indicates that national, societal, and collective interests cannot be damaged due to individuals' exercise of freedom and their rights. Only the state can say what national, societal, and collective interests are and these override individual rights.
Also, the mass media is not allowed to report any policy-making process within the Party.

Role of press

Chinese press has been described as the "mouth and tongue”,”eyes and ears” of the Party. Externally the media fail to fully provide the public with detailed information. Internally, within the Party, the media play role of intelligence gathering and communicating sensitive information to the central leadership. Instead of serving as an information source, the Chinese press functions as Party-policy announcer to the public and intelligence collector to the government.

Ownership
Xinhua and People's Daily are the two most important print media, have status as separate government ministries. The Guangming Daily and the English-language China Daily are under the control of the Propaganda Department. Their directors sit on the party's Central Committee. They are the official press agencies of the government of China.

Acknowledgements

http://www.pressreference.com/Be-Co/China.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_of_the_People
Republic_of_China#Structure_of_media_in_mainland_China
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4Q-oePDdcC8C&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=four+theories+of+the+press+in+china&ots=
F2VLigmMoV&sig=yY2P5JLNGvX7DTA2lrAa7kqBLdg#PPA1,M1

Soviet Totalitarian in US

2008-05-19T21:57:00.004+08:00

United States

In US, the media was totally controlled by the government. This press model is used to contribute the success and continuation of political dictatorship. This will show only the good side of the government while disable the bad side of the government. However, there is a bad effect to this press model as the citizen know the truth even when the government wanted things to be hidden and be wash away as time past by. Citizen will become more anti government once they know the truth.

Last year, on April, there is a quote from The Most Biased Name in News; Fox News Channel’s extraordinary right-wing tilt, Extra! A Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting Special Report, August 2001, “I challenge anybody to show me an example of bias in Fox News Channel.” — Rupert Murdoch (Salon, 3/1/01). This shows that there is flaw in the press model of US. From this quote we can see that the commenter conceived a thought that the there is an biasness in Fox News Channel. This is a evidence that there maybe a biasness in Media towards Government.

Furthermore, from http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/Media/USA.asp :"In recent times, the American media has been plagued with all sorts of problems including, sliding profits, scandals about manipulation, plagiarism, and propaganda, falling readership in the press, “dumbing down”, and so on." The one who create this sentence most probably believes that the government is manipulating the media such that the truth might be hidden and the one which the readers read is a positive comment to the government.

Singapore

2008-05-16T18:37:00.016+08:00

Singapore - Authoritarian

Function
Authoritarianism describes a form of social control characterized by strict obedience to the authority of a state or organisation, often maintaining and enforcing control through the use of oppressive measure. It is to support and advance the policies of government in power and to serve the state. The press in Singapore function on the basis of the expectation that it help foster national interests as defined by the government.

Relationship between government and media
Newspaper and Printing Presses Act (NPPA) (1974) (derived from the colonial Printing Presses Act of 1920) allows the Singapore government to wield a three-pronged strategy in controlling the press, its ownership, personnel and ultimately, published content. Media helps to cascade government's policies.

Ownership
Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) is publicly owned. Media Corporation of Singapore (MCS), who handles daily newspaper Today, is previously government-owned. Now, it has converted into a private corporation. Media Development Authority (MDA) is part of the Singapore government.

How are media controlled?
In 2002, the Minister of Information, Communications and Arts announced that a new agency, the Media Development Authority (MDA) would supervise all forms of media operating in Singapore. MDA is part of the Singapore government. The government indirectly controls the media through Temasek Holdings.

Press Laws
The press in Singapore, in addition to functioning on the basis of the expectation that it help foster national interests as defined by the government, is also under the latter's strict supervision, as it has to operate within a number of legal constraints. The principal and most comprehensive piece of legislation that affects print publications is the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act (1974) or NPPA. This legislation (derived from the colonial Printing Presses Act of 1920) allows the Singapore government to wield a three-pronged strategy in controlling the press, its ownership, personnel and ultimately, published content. A 1986 amendment to the NPPA allows the government's Ministry of Communication to reduce the number of copies circulated in Singapore of any foreign publication that was labeled as engaging in domestic politics. This gives the government broad latitude in terms of reducing the availability of a particular publication within the republic without seeming to suppress or eliminate it completely. the charge of interfering in domestic politics followed that publication's critical coverage of the government's political actions (e.g., alleged unfair treatment of the miniscule opposition parties or its members) or business news defined as negative.
There is no free media in Singapore. Government control of the media, government statements that social and political stability is more important than freedom, government action against people who do not comply with official regulations and the absence of free indigenous media companies, would affect people’s perceptions on freedom of the press and its necessity against social harmony.

Government licences

Business licences
- Arts Entertainment Licence
- Dealers' Licence
- Film Exhibition Licence
- Internet Service Provider Licence
- Newspaper Permit
- Non-residential TV Licence
- Printing press
- Satellite Broadcasting Licence
- TV receive-only Licence
- Video Licence
- Licence Framework for Broadcasting IPTV services

Public licences
- Residential TV Licence
- Vehicle Radio Licence

Censorship
Censorship in Singapore mainly targets sexual, political, racial and religious issues. The Government of Singapore argues that censorship of violence and sexual themes is necessary as the Singaporean populace is deeply conservative, and censorship of political, racial and religious content is necessary to avoid upsetting the balance of Singapore's delicate multi-racial society. K Bhavani, spokesperson of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, has stated.

What is forbidden?
The Sedition Act, Broadcasting Act, Films Act, and other regulations set down by the Media Development Authority restrict media freedom in the name of public morality and social stability. Government control of the media, government statements that social and political stability is more important than freedom, government action against people who do not comply with official regulations and the absence of free indigenous media companies, would affect people’s perceptions on freedom of the press and its necessity against social harmony. The government has undertaken legal action against media organisations that allegedly defames any official figure.

Acknowledgments
http://www.pressreference.com/Sa-Sw/Singapore.html
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2007/12/16/a-government-controlled-media-is-superior-to-a-free-media/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Singapore
http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=4Q-oePDdcC8C&dq=four+theories+of+the+press&pg=PP1&ots=F2VKnenOnX&sig=uqpTEw6qINRcYrPNokHdISBLIXE&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com.sg/search%3Fq%3Dfour%2Btheories%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bpress%26hl%3Den&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail#PPA2,M1