SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) is studying regulatory moves by other countries to safeguard the “prominence” and “discoverability” of public service media (PSM) entities.

Speaking in parliament on Friday (Mar 7), Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo said that as consumers shift to platforms like YouTube or Netflix, the reach of broadcast TV is under threat.

"Given the important national role of our PSM entities to inform, educate and connect Singaporeans, we must be very concerned about their visibility being obscured by the decisions of third-party platforms," added Mrs Teo.

"Our PSM content must remain visible and easily accessible to our audiences."

She added that even as public service media entities expand onto these platforms, the experiences abroad suggest that placements and algorithms in the digital environment "disadvantage" them.

As such, countries such as the UK and Australia have introduced new rules requiring Connected TVs to be pre-loaded with public service media apps like BBC iPlayer, or ABC iview, and to display such apps prominently on their user interfaces, said Mrs Teo.

Connected TVs are devices with access to the internet that can stream online videos.

Mrs Teo added that the authorities will consult industry stakeholders, including device manufacturers, before deciding on the next steps.

CNA VS STRAITS TIMES

Earlier in the sitting, Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh referred to Mrs Teo's remarks from last year's Budget debate, where she stated that SPH Media had failed to meet its key performance indicator (KPI) targets for digital reach, youth reach, and vernacular reach in the 2023 financial year, resulting in it not receiving the full committed funding.

Mr Singh asked what "objective criteria" MDDI had set for SPH Media for FY2024/25 regarding the unmet KPIs and whether these targets had been adjusted up or down.

"I had also asked the minister about the way the ministry presented its subsidies to SPH Media Trust in the Budget book, and whether there was a simple way for the public to track and understand the KPIs the ministry had set for SPH Media Trust," he said.

"This point is important given the size of the subsidy granted to the mainstream media."

Mr Singh then raised concerns about how public funds are allocated to media outlets and whether audience perceptions are taken into account.

"I would like to share anecdotal feedback from those who follow local English news closely, for example, that Channel NewsAsia's (CNA) reporting and commentary on local issues in terms of depth has overtaken that of the Straits Times," said Mr Singh.

"Does the ministry conduct local surveys to gauge the public response to local media outlets and if so, how so does it make the decision to deploy taxpayer dollars to those media outlets that rank less satisfactorily in the public eye?"

In response, Mrs Teo said that SPH Media's digital subscriptions have remained stable and are now 35 per cent higher than print subscriptions, up from 20 per cent two years ago.

"SPH Media will have to continue its pivot to digital news, and the government must support this effort so that our PSM entities can meet audiences where they are," she added.

Mrs Teo added that SPH Media did not ask to lower its targets and is "determined" to maintain its reach and relevance with Singaporeans.

"I would suggest respectfully to members that comparisons must avoid oversimplification because we have to remember that CNA is mainly our national broadcaster as well as our digital news channel, whereas most of the titles  ... most of the assets of SPH Media Trust are print, even though they have digital versions and are meant to be national papers of record," she said. SPH Media publishes broadsheets - the Straits Times, Lianhe Zaobao, Berita Harian and Tamil Murasu - in Singapore's four main languages.

"It is perhaps my humble suggestion to members to look at the performance of public service media holistically, because in truth, we need all of them to reach as many Singaporeans as we can," said Mrs Teo.