• About Us
    • Fact Checking Policy
    • Ownership & funding information
    • Volunteer
  • Subscribe
  • Letter submission
    • Submissions Policy
  • Contact Us
The Online Citizen Asia
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Singapore
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Politics
    • Civil Society
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
No Result
View All Result
The Online Citizen Asia
No Result
View All Result

Things that MOS Chee Hong Tat got wrong about Parliamentary videos

by Terry Xu
07/03/2017
in Commentaries
Reading Time: 8 mins read
0

On Monday, Minister of State for Ministry of Communication and Information, Chee Hong Tat stating that there is risk of MPs playing to the gallery in the presence of live cameras, which would affect the work of Parliament, in response to the question posed by Workers’ Party Member of Parliament, Mr Pritam Singh on live streaming of the Parliamentary sitting.
Personally, I think the answer given by the MOS is pretty ridiculous, along with the other points raised during his reply.
This post seeks to rebut his reply to Mr Singh bit by bit as it is filled with fallacies and inaccuracies.
The following text in quotes are part of Mr Chee’s speech in Parliament.
Took a long time for videos to be available

“Over the years, MCI has worked with Mediacorp to enhance the coverage of Parliamentary proceedings. Today, key Parliament sessions such as the Budget Statement and the opening of Parliament are broadcast live on both TV and online.”
“Footage of all Parliament speeches and Questions and Answer sessions are already available online, on ChannelNewsAsia’s Parliament microsite.”

While Mr Chee is correct to have said that footage of all questions and answer sessions are available on CNA’s microsite. However, it took a long period of time for the videos to be available. If one were to look back in time, videos are hardly accessible in pre-2011. The few that one can find on YouTube are those footages that were broadcasted by the media and recorded by members of public.
microsite
There are Q&A videos also available on the gov.sg YouTube channel but there is only a selected few.
Videos are sorted purely by date

Parliamentary highlights are loaded onto this microsite within three hours of broadcast. Videos of all speeches and footage from Question Time are uploaded by the following morning.
If you go to the site, you will see that the videos are sorted by date and name of the MP. The video clips are easily accessible by the public, and are organised for convenient viewing. The online archival period for these videos has also been lengthened since 2013, from one month to six months.

If one were to refer to the microsite, there is no sorting of videos based on name of MP. If Mr Chee is referring to the name of the MP being listed in the heading of the video, that is referred as naming of videos.
Public to buy from Mediacorp after archive period
The videos are archived only for six months after which, members of public who wish to obtain the video from Mediacorp has to pay Mediacorp for the video footage.
CNAquotation
Till date, the Parliament has not replied TOC on why Mediacorp is being given the right to charge for access to the video footage. Also Mediacorp states that they have to seek permission from the MP in the footage for the video to be released. How does that make sense?
Hansard does not record everything

In addition, the public has access to the full written record of Parliamentary proceedings via the online Hansard. Singaporeans who are interested in watching the proceedings can also attend any Parliamentary sitting in person, watch the news on TV that evening, or view the complete set of video clips from the CNA microsite using their computers and mobile devices the next morning.

The Hansard is a written record of the Parliamentary proceedings, but it does not record everything that transpires in the parliament.
It does not tell you the mood of the Parliament, it does not tell you what tone was used to convey the message. It does not tell you the attendance of the Parliament at the time when the speech is made.
Most importantly, the Hansard leaves out details that make a difference.
During the debate on the Contempt of Court bill, Mr Low Thia Khiang, MP for Aljunied GRC stood up to ask for division within the Parliament.

parliament-division

recording by Hansard on the debate

If one were to retrieve the actual video recording of the event, one would see that Mdm Halimah Yacob had already said, “The Ayes have it, the Ayes have it” despite Mr Low having raised his hands up in the air and walked over to the podium to make his intention to call for a division clear.
The Speaker was clearly displeased with Mr Low’s request and had wanted to just get it over with. It was only with Mr Low’s insistence that the division was finally called.
At this point of time, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong could be heard saying, “This is out of order”, referring to Mr Low’s call for division.
All these are not documented by Hansard.
Live broadcast is a form of check and balance and public education

Based on data collected, the viewership of live broadcasts remains low. Even for a major speech like the Budget, the number of people who watched it live is less than 10% of those who watched the parliamentary highlights on the news that evening. And less than 1% of all viewers watched the Budget live using web-streaming.

Mr Chee is wrong to have used the low viewership as a form of justification. Having the Parliament broadcast live is a form of check and balance upon the Parliament, especially on how Mainstream media covers the Parliament proceeding. At the present moment, the public relies on tweets and updates from MSM on what has been said in parliament, how is the public to know on what context was the comment made and in reference to what?
An example of public education is the passing of bills. Does the public know that bills are passed within half an hour after a bill is read the second time. One would assume that a bill will take a while after it is read before being passed as law. But in reality, a bill is passed as something that is routine since it is assumed that opposition cannot stop its passage. This process will be captured by the live broadcast. Mr Chee would note that there is no such videos being published on either the CNA’s microsite nor the gov.sg youtube.
Can the minister state examples?

The experiences in other countries show that there are pros and cons to having live broadcasts of Parliament proceedings. Observers have noted that one downside is the risk of MPs playing to the gallery in the presence of live cameras, which would affect the work of Parliament.

Mr Chee said that there are pros and cons in having live broadcasts in other countries. Which are the countries and what have been the pros and cons? Is it right for the Minister to just give a vague example on the matter?
And does it matter if the videos are live or delayed broadcasted? Wouldn’t MPs as politician be playing to the gallery nevertheless?
Ministers have access to high-quality videos while MPs settle for sub-quality
Mr Singh in his follow up question, then asked Mr Chee if the delayed parliamentary broadcast for Q&A and MP speeches will be reproduced in full and not edited when uploaded after parliament has finished and whether the ministry should consider live parliamentary broadcast, maybe a short pilot of three to six months to understand the misgivings the ministry may have.

To his first question, the answer is yes. There is no edit done to the video clips of speeches except for those places where there are some pauses or when certain issues are sort of very local issues but the speeches, and I think Mr Pritam Singh would probably know this, actually many of us would go to the site and use those videos for social media. So I think it is something for everyone to see.
As I said in my speech, it is up there for six months, archival period.
The second question, I thank Mr Singh for acknowledging that there are pros and cons to live broadcast. Think we do recongnise the up sides as well, it is not that this is a straight forward thing but we looked at what we have now and our sense is that it is meeting the needs of what Mr Singh has spoke about in his speech

As mentioned before, there is no video clips of Q&A in CNA’s microsite and selected few Q&A in the youtube channel.
It is also interesting that Mr Chee say that many of the MPs go to the site to use the videos for social media. For the Prime Minister and other Ministers, the videos of their speeches are available in high quality at the Gov.sg YouTube channel while MPs such as those from the opposition, have to go and “download” the video to be posted on their social media platform. There is no easy way of getting the video from CNA’s microsite as compared to that from Youtube, and the quality of the video is significantly lower.
Meeting the needs
Mr Singh in his speech, said that providing a live and open parliamentary platform would serve as a key inoculant against fake news. Fake news can also be in the form of misrepresenting the stance or position of an individual/politician.
There are times where videos show a PAP politician or Minister to have the final say on a matter in video, but in reality, that is not the case.
I have been at the Parliamentary sittings quite a number of times and can attest to instances where the opposition or NMPs are stopped from following up a statement from a minister. There are also instances in the form of video presentation by the Mainstream Media, that gives an impression that a Minister “dropped the mic” on the opposition when he had not answered any of the oppositions’ questions.
Edit: The article has been corrected to reflect that Q&A are available on the CNA microsite and apologies for any misunderstanding on that part. 

For just US$7.50 a month, sign up as a subscriber on The Online Citizen Asia (and enjoy ads-free experience on our site) to support our mission to transform TOC into an alternative mainstream press.

Related Posts

US tells vaccinated people in high COVID risk areas to mask again
AFP

White House says US COVID emergency status to end 11 May

31/01/2023
Editorial

Excessively charging for an essential need, and calling it affordable because people still can pay for it?

31/01/2023
258 BTO flats and 168 resale flats returned to HDB due to non-fulfillment of Minimum Occupation Period
Politics

Desmond Lee files Ministerial Motion to affirm commitment on affordable public housing in Singapore

31/01/2023
Keppel O&M’s involvement in Brazil’s massive corruption scandal
Business

Keppel Offshore & Marine paid fines and damages of US$65 million to Brazilian authorities over corruption case

30/01/2023
Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim arrives in Singapore for one-day official visit
Malaysia

Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim arrives in Singapore for one-day official visit

30/01/2023
TikToker alleges being “thrown in airport jail” for going on a 10 hours day trip to Changi Airport
Comments

TikToker alleges being “thrown in airport jail” for going on a 10 hours day trip to Changi Airport

30/01/2023
Subscribe
Connect withD
Login
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
Notify of
Connect withD
I allow to create an account
When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
DisagreeAgree
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Latest posts

US tells vaccinated people in high COVID risk areas to mask again

White House says US COVID emergency status to end 11 May

31/01/2023

Excessively charging for an essential need, and calling it affordable because people still can pay for it?

31/01/2023
258 BTO flats and 168 resale flats returned to HDB due to non-fulfillment of Minimum Occupation Period

Desmond Lee files Ministerial Motion to affirm commitment on affordable public housing in Singapore

31/01/2023
Keppel O&M’s involvement in Brazil’s massive corruption scandal

Keppel Offshore & Marine paid fines and damages of US$65 million to Brazilian authorities over corruption case

30/01/2023
Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim arrives in Singapore for one-day official visit

Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim arrives in Singapore for one-day official visit

30/01/2023
TikToker alleges being “thrown in airport jail” for going on a 10 hours day trip to Changi Airport

TikToker alleges being “thrown in airport jail” for going on a 10 hours day trip to Changi Airport

30/01/2023
Workers’ Party Sengkang MPs receives a “mountain of rice pack” from public after donation call for needy families in CNY

Workers’ Party Sengkang MPs receives a “mountain of rice pack” from public after donation call for needy families in CNY

30/01/2023
Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

30/01/2023

Trending posts

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

Former Singaporean shares change of life in Australia with annual pay of S$80,000 as a plumber

by Yee Loon
30/01/2023
14

...

Two Indian nationals paid about S$330 and S$730 respectively for forged certificates submitted in their S-Pass application

MOM found issuing EPs meant for foreign PMETs to PRC waitress and general worker

by Correspondent
26/01/2023
41

...

Earning only S$400 a month, delivery-rider turned hawker threw in the towel after two years of running a rojak stall

Earning only S$400 a month, delivery-rider turned hawker threw in the towel after two years of running a rojak stall

by Yee Loon
26/01/2023
24

...

Ho Ching breaks silence over Temasek’s write down of its US$275 million investment in FTX, says it “can afford to be contrarian”

US regulator questions VCs’ due diligence work prior to investing in FTX; Ho Ching says Temasek can afford to be contrarian

by The Online Citizen
24/01/2023
28

...

Indian rupee falls 60% since signing of CECA while Singapore becomes top investor in India

by Correspondent
25/01/2023
59

...

Temasek and GIC reportedly in talks with Adani Group accused of “brazen” market manipulation and accounting fraud

Temasek and GIC reportedly in talks with Adani Group accused of “brazen” market manipulation and accounting fraud

by The Online Citizen
26/01/2023
49

...

March 2017
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Feb   Apr »

The Online Citizen is a regional online publication based in Taiwan and formerly Singapore’s longest-running independent online media platform.

Navigation

  • Editorial
  • Commentaries
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Community

Support

  • Contact Us
  • Letter submission
  • Membership subscription

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Fact Checking Policy
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

No Result
View All Result
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Commentaries
    • Comments
  • Current Affairs
    • Malaysia
    • Indonesia
    • China
    • ASEAN
    • Asia
    • International
  • Finance
    • Economics
    • Labour
    • Property
    • Business
  • Community
    • Civil Society
    • Arts & Culture
    • Consumer Watch
    • NGO
  • Politics
    • Parliament
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Housing
  • Law & Order
    • Legislation
    • Court Cases
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Subscribers login

© 2022 - 2023 The Online Citizen Asia

wpDiscuz