SINGAPORE: The government will restructure the way it communicates, taking into account the current media landscape, where people source information from various mediums.
Information, Communications and the Arts Minister Yaacob Ibrahim highlighted this as an area the new Communications and Information Ministry will focus on, from 1 November.
New media have been a game-changer in spreading information.
Singapore's
Communications and Information Ministry will look at education -- how
to make sense of what one reads on the web, said Dr Yaacob, the man
helming the new ministry.
"At the end of the day, we also have to
ensure that people who are surfing the internet, going online, also
understand how to navigate and have the right cyber skills, so to speak,
to ensure they have the info-literacy and media-literacy skills
necessary for them to understand what is being purveyed," he added.
Going
forward, the Infocomm Development Authority, Media Development
Authority and the National Library Board will have a bigger role to play
in cyber-education.
With more voices being amplified in the
digital age, authorities now have to look more closely at the way
government-to-people communications are being managed. It is in this
area that efforts are being made to enhance the way things are done.
A Media Convergence Review Panel has been set up to assist with re-looking at Singapore's current media policies.
The panel is led by Koh Boon Hwee, former chairman of telco SingTel.
The
authorities are paying special attention to how local content is driven
with convergence, and what should be the right regulatory framework in
this area, said Dr Yaacob.
"Having local content which is
attractive will allow us to anchor our population, not only to the
country but to our sense of history and our sense as a people and allow
us to help in the continuing conversation of who we are and where we
want to go," he said.
The government has been working closely
with national broadcaster MediaCorp to enhance the slew of free-to-air
entertainment and current affairs offerings.
- CNA/al