Preventing the press from engendering ethnic violence : press restraints and ethnic violence in Singapore

This thesis aims to find a solution to a commonly held problem of ethnic violence that is engendered by the press. Based on the premise that governmental influence on the press in the form of press restraints can prevent the recurrence of deadly ethnic violence, it argues for certain types of press restraints in societies that (1) are just emerging from ethnic conflict and (2) lack the societal norms and established institutions that stem from traditions of democracy, is formulated. Taking Singapore as a case study, it shows that race issues were progressively de-politicized from 1956 to 1972 as a consequence of governmental influence. The Singapore case is taken to illustrate the gains to be attained from press restraints, and also to point out some potential caveats that would need to be accounted for in policies regarding press restraints.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Political Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Saleem, Saleena Begum

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Chappell Lawson.

• Political Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/38448

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/38448