Media Law

Media Law

1. Licensing

   • NEWSPAPER (PRINT)
     • CONDITIONS
       • Monetary deposit required
     • OWNER of newspaper company has MANAGEMENT SHARES (unless exempted)
       • 1. Make up 1% of company's stock 2. Same value as ordinary shares 3. 200X the votes of ordinary shares in governing corporation 4. Not traded on stock xchg 5. held by SG CITIZENS or corpns
         • - Make up 1% of company's stock - Same value as ordinary shares - 200X the votes of ordinary shares in governing corporation - Not traded on stock xchg - held by SG CITIZENS or corpns - GOVT APPROVED owners
     • DEFINITION
       • Any publication containing news, intelligence, reports of occurrences, remarks, observations or comments of any other matter of public interest... for sale or for free at regular intervals or otherwise
   • BROADCAST
     • CONDITIONS
       • 1. Any condition can be imposed 2. Minister can impose “directions as he deems fit” 3. Licensee can be fined 4. License can be cancelled, suspended, modified
     • OWNERSHIP
       • Singapore broadcasters are not subject to the mgmt shareholder scheme. (MediaCorp is government-owned by Temasek Holdings)
   • ONLINE
     • CLASS LICENSES
       • All of us have class licenses --- basically anyone who PROVIDES ANY WEB PROGRAMME, through the internet
         • Can be revoked or suspended at any time
       • Registration required in addition to class license in some cases
         • - Internet Service Providers - Political parties - Online newspapers - Discussion of political or religious issues regarding Singapore (individual or group)
     • INDIVIDUAL LICENSE (50K)
       • - Have >50k SG visitors/mth for 2 mths - Publish average of at least 1 article/week on Singapore during those months- Have SG IP address
       • Licensed sites are required to obey 'takedown' orders to removed prohibited content within 24h