Doorstop Interview by Minister K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Law, on Media Literacy Council's Infographic, and Satire and POFMA, 13 September 2019
13 Sep 2019 Posted in Replies
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The suggestion that satire is covered by POFMA is erroneous. I have been very clear, both in Parliament and outside, POFMA does not cover satire.
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When there is material, it has to be looked at objectively. Is it factual, is it false but pretends to be factual, or is it satire, parody, or opinion, and so on. Only false statements which, objectively, would be seen as statements of fact can be caught.
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I said this in my Second Reading speech. I referred to an American, Mr Horner, and what he did. My fellow Nee Soon GRC MP Louis Ng specifically asked me a question about satire, and I answered him. All of this is on the record, in Hansard [#].
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The MLC are good people. They give generously of their time, trying to help on a variety of issues.
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I can understand what the MLC was trying to say, but either they made a mistake, or it didn’t get said accurately.
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My guess, and it’s only my guess, is that the error may have come about because they probably relied on a number of things that one of the witnesses to the Select Committee had said. The witness had also used a chart similar to what they had put out.
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But that is, unfortunately, not an accurate representation of POFMA.
For the relevant extracts of Hansard, click here (67.1KB).
MINISTRY OF LAW
13 SEPTEMBER 2019
Last updated on 14 Sep 2019