Singaporean media widely reporting GE14
JOHOR BAHRU, May 3 (Bernama) -- The mainstream media in Singapore are widely reporting the progress of the country´s 14th General Election (GE14), which is now in the campaigning stage.
They created a special segment called "Malaysia Elections" for The Straits Times, "Malaysia GEnews" for Channel NewsAsia and "Malaysian GE" for TODAYonline.
From observation, they provide a balanced report by focusing on hot areas, relevant current political issues and leading leaders of the contesting parties.
They also increase the number of existing journalists operating in Kuala Lumpur to ensure widespread coverage.
Not only online, they also "share" their coverage on their social media platforms complete with news reports, pictures and videos.
In Johor, the nearest state to Singapore, the media practitioners of the neighbouring country began to appear as early as the nomination day on April 28.
Most of them are using rented cars to 'trail' the selected leaders.
Good relationships with local media are also fostered with information exchanges in order not to miss the coverage of related leaders.
With the red media tag issued by the Malaysian Department of Information for all foreign media personnel, they could easily be spotted.
They say the preparations for the peak coverage of which party would form the government would be done sooner.
"Right now we commute between the two countries daily. We will be allowed to spend the night at the coverage area three days earlier than the polling day," said one of the media personnel.
Meanwhile, BN candidate for the Johor Bahru parliamentary seat Tan Sri Shahrir Ab Samad, might be the pioneer for a cross-border campaign when a poster which says "For The Rakyat, For A Greater Malaysia" appears on the front page of The Straits Times online.
It is believed to attract registered voters in the parliamentary constituency who are working in Singapore to vote for him on May 9.
-- BERNAMA
