Singapore Tamil Youth Conference 2016 Toolkit Toolkit Final as of 17082016 | Page 28

Tamil Culture and Media
Author: Ms Harini V
Tamil Media
Mediacorp
Vasantham
SPH
OLI
96.8
Tamil
Murasu
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.
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)
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)
Beginning:
“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
•
•
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)
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):
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