ABSTRACT
Introduction In 1996, the well-known anthropologist Arjun Appadurai coined the term ‘mediascape’ as one of five dimensional ‘scapes’ intended to explicate differences and disjuncture in the global cultural economy. According to Appadurai (1996: 35), the term refers to the production and dissemination of mediated information via traditional and electronic means to form political and ideological ‘images of the world’. Singapore’s mediascape operates in much the same manner in that management and control of the mass media are intended to keep the government in absolute power and control. According to Brian McNair, this mode of media management – also commonly referred to as ‘political communication’ – occurs when and where governments seek to “control, manipulate or influence media organizations in ways which correspond to their political objectives” (McNair 1995: 135).
