The purpose of this article is twofold: to examine the form and content of public opinion reporting in the Singaporean news media and to determine their social implications for public policy decision making. The article analyzes coverage of public opinion polls in the two most important newspapers in Singapore over a three-year span. The data show that public opinion surveys in Singapore are fraught with theoretical and methodological problems and that their reporting in the news media leaves much to be desired. The implication is that manufacturing consent in the news, forced consensus in opinion formation, and uncontested policy debates are likely to breed government complacency.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bogart, Leo . 1972. Silent Politics: Polls and the Awareness of Public Opinion. New York: Wiley-Interscience .
2.
Breed , Warren , and Thomas Ktsanes . 1961. “Pluralistic Ignorance in the Process of Opinion Formation.”Public Opinion Quarterly25(3): 382-392 .
3.
Brooks , Joel E.1990. “The Opinion-Policy Nexus in Germany.”Public Opinion Quarterly54(4): 508-529 .
4.
Chua, Beng Huat . 1995. Communitarian Ideology and Democracy in Singapore. London: Routledge .
Davison, W. Phillips . 1983. “The Third-Person Effect in Communication.”Public Opinion Quarterly47(1): 1-15 .
7.
Field, Mervin D.1971. “The Researcher's View.”Public Opinion Quarterly35(3): 342-346 .
8.
Ginsberg, Benjamin . 1986. The Captive Public: How Mass Opinion Promotes State Power. New York: Basic Books .
9.
Gollin, Albert E.1980. “Exploring the Liaison between Polling and the Press.”Public Opinion Quarterly44(4): 445-461 .
10.
Gunther, Albert C. , and Peng Hwa Ang . 1996. “Public Perceptions of Television Influence and Opinions about Censorship in Singapore.”International Journal of Public Opinion Research8(3): 248-265 .
11.
Herbst, Susan . 1990. “Assessing Public Opinion in the 1930s-1940s: Retrospective Views of Journalists.”Journalism Quarterly67 (Winter): 943-949 .
12.
Holsti, Ole R. 1967. “Computer Content Analysis in International Relations Research.” In Computers in Humanistic Research, ed. Edmund A. Bowles . Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall .
13.
Hukill, Mark A. 1996. “Structures of Television in Singapore.” In Contemporary Television: Eastern Perspectives, ed. David French and Michael Richards . New Delhi: Sage .
14.
Jordan, Donald L.1993. “Newspaper Effects on Policy Preferences.”Public Opinion Quarterly57(2): 191-204 .
15.
Key, V.O., Jr. 1967. Public Opinion and American Democracy. New York: Alfred A. Knopf .
16.
Kuo, Eddie C.Y. 1983. “Communication Policy and National Development.” In Singapore: Development Policies and Trends, ed. Peter S.J. Chen . Singapore: Oxford University Press .
17.
Kuo, Eddie C.Y. 1996. “Confucianism as Political Discourse in Singapore: The Case of an Incomplete Revitalization Movement.” In Confucian Traditions in East Asian Modernity: Moral Education and Economic Culture in Japan and the Four Mini-Dragons, ed. Wei-ming Tu . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
18.
Kuo, Eddie C.Y. , and Peter S.J. Chen . 1983. Communication Policy and Planning in Singapore. London: Kegan Paul .
19.
Ladd, Everett Carll . 1980. “Polling and the Press: The Clash of Institutional Imperatives.”Public Opinion Quarterly44(4): 574-584 .
20.
Lee, Kuan Yew . 1989. “Singapore and the Foreign Press.” In Press Systems in ASEAN States, ed. Achal Mehra . Singapore: Asian Mass Communication Research and Information Centre .
21.
Lent, John . 1982. “Singapore.” In Newspapers in Asia: Contemporary Trends and Problems, ed. John Lent . Hong Kong: Heinemann Asia .
22.
Lim, Ivan . 1996. “Media Monitors in Singapore.” In Media Monitors in Asia, ed. K.S. Venkateswaran . Singapore: Asian Media Information and Communication Centre .
23.
McCombs, Maxwell E. , and Donald L. Shaw . 1990. “The Agenda-Setting Function of the Press.” In Media Power in Politics, ed. Doris A. Graber . 2nd Edition. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly .
24.
Meyer, Philip . 1971. “The Journalist: Friend or Foe?”Public Opinion Quarterly35(3): 347-349 .
25.
Meyer, Philip . 1973. Precision Journalism: A Reporter's Introduction to Social Science Methods. Bloomington: Indiana University Press .
26.
Miller, Mark M. , and Robert Hurd . 1982. “Conformity to AAPOR Standards in Newspaper Reporting of Public Opinion Polls.”Public Opinion Quarterly46(2): 243-249 .
27.
Nair, Basskaran . 1989. “Singapore.” In Press Systems in ASEAN States, ed. Achal Mehra . Singapore: Asian Mass Communication Research and Information Centre .
Neher, Clark D. , and Ross Marlay . 1995. Democracy and Development in Southeast Asia: The Winds of Change. Boulder, CO: Westview Press .
30.
Noelle-Neumann, Elisabeth . 1991. “The Theory of Public Opinion: The Concept of the Spiral of Silence.”Communication Yearbook14: 256-287 .
31.
Paletz, David L. , Jonathan Y. Short , Helen Baker , Barbara Cookman Campbell , Richard J. Cooper , and Rochelle M. Oeslander . 1980. “Polls in the Media: Content, Credibility, and Consequences.”Public Opinion Quarterly44(4): 495-513 .
32.
Roll, Charles W. , and Albert H. Cantril . 1980. Polls: Their Use and Misuse in Politics. Cabin John, MD: Seven Locks Press .
33.
Salwen, Michael B.1985. “The Reporting of Public Opinion Polls during Presidential Years, 1968-1984.”Journalism Quarterly62 (Summer): 272-277 .
34.
Tull, Donald S.1975-76. “Intentional Bias in Public Opinion Polls for Decisional Purposes.”Public Opinion Quarterly39(4): 552-556 .
35.
Von Hoffman, Nicholas . 1980. “Public Opinion Polls: Newspapers Making Their Own News?”Public Opinion Quarterly44(4): 572-573 .
36.
Wheeler, Michael . 1976. Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics. New York: Dell .
37.
Wilhoit, G. Cleveland , and Taik Sup Auh . 1974. “Newspaper Endorsement and Coverage of Public Opinion Polls in 1970.”Journalism Quarterly51 (Winter): 654-658 .
38.
Wong, John . 1996. “Promoting Confucianism for Socioeconomic Development.” In Confucian Traditions in East Asian Modernity: Moral Education and Economic Culture in Japan and the Four Mini-Dragons, ed. Wei-ming Tu.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
39.
Yeap, Soon Beng . 1996. “The Press in Singapore: Freedom and Accountability in the Asian Dialectic.”Journal of Communication Inquiry20 (Spring): 67-82 .
