Issue 10: Tamil Media
PAGE 60
Tamil Media
Issue 10: Tamil Culture and Media
Author: Ms Harini V
Vasantham |
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Mediacorp |
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OLI 96.8 |
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SPH
Tamil Murasu
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BACKGROUND:
• Local Tamil media, like other mass media in Singapore fall under two organisations, namely MediaCorp and Singapore Press Holdings( SPH).
• Vasantham and Oli belong to Mediacorp and Tamil Murasu to SPH.“ The three media platforms are under close government supervision and follow its directives closely.”( Arun Mahizhnan, 2016)
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Tamil Murasu
• Launched in 1935 and has been, for most of the time, the only Tamil Newspaper in Singapore.
• Founded and run for a long time by G Sarangapany, a distinguished Tamil journalist and community leader.
In the past:
• As a staunch follower of the Reform Movement of Tamil Nadu, Sarangapany used TM as a communication tool to rid the Tamil community of caste based discriminations so as to unite all Tamil people regardless of class or creed.
• TM was both a reflection and an influencer of the community and was seen as a representative of the Tamil community.
• However, after his passing, TM lost its guiding spirit and its special status as a community voice.
Today:
• TM serves the local and migrant Tamil communities as a source of information and entertainment.
• However, it is no longer the mobilizing tool it once was. Its representation of the local Tamil community has also diminished.
• It certainly reflects government policies and views to the Tamil community.
• However, a space is allocated for Tamil fiction and poetry which benefits a small segment of the Tamil population.
• There are also special editions for school children( Ilayar and Manavar Murasu).
• TM has been criticized for making itself largely a newspaper for foreign workers with the main focus on Tamil Nadu politics and events. However, the economics of running this newspaper is highly dependent on that segment of the readership.( Arun Mahizhnan, 2016)
Revival of TM:
• In the next few years, TM was virtually in its death bed when it was rescued by SPH by both government and commercial considerations.( Arun Mahizhnan, 2016)
• SPH has turned TM into a commercially viable operation supported by a new flood of immigrant Tamils who were keen to read a Tamil newspaper.( Arun Mahizhnan, 2016)
“ Before the 1980s, Tamil radio in Singapore had achieved a name for itself in Tamil broadcasting around the world. It had brilliant broadcasters like ESJ Chandran and P Krishnan, the likes of whom have not been seen since. In television, the last decade has seen major improvements in drama production, acting and script writing. E. g.“ Annamalai”. As with radio, Tamil television too has decreased its classical music and dance and literary programming. A pity.”- Arun Mahizhnan, 2016
Beginning:
Vasantham & OLI 96.8
• Since 1920s, broadcasting in Singapore has been in the hands of Government’ s Public Service Broadcasting( PSB).
• In 1980, a corporation – Singapore Broadcasting Corporation( SBC) – was established. While it was run as a corporation, it was very much under the control of the government.
The dramatic change:
•“ Broadcasting as a whole went through a dramatic change in 1980 when it transformed from being a public service broadcaster to a commercial broadcaster.( Arun Mahizhnan, 2016)
Present day( See overleaf):