Commentary
The Jakarta Post, 4 Jul 2009, Tom Plate
In successful Singapore, which boasts one of the world's highest standards of living, the news media and government exist more as parallel lines of similar purpose than as crossed swords of continual confrontation. The well-staffed Straits Times, the island nation's lead broadsheet newspaper, offers spotlessly professional coverage of Asia. It has more full-time correspondents in China than the New York Times. Its alert coverage of Southeast Asia blankets the region. Its opinion pages scoop up perspectives from the West as well as the East. It is a serious newspaper.
But it does not bash or lash out at City Hall. That is to say, it does not shove its editorial nose into the face of the nation's leaders. The government would not let it, and the journalists - as far as any outside observer can tell - appear to accept this.
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