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Media coverage of 2011 presidential elections was biased: Tan Cheng Bock

The former presidential candidate Dr Tan Cheng Bock believes the media coverage of last year’s Presidential Elections was “biased towards the government-backed candidate”.

On his Facebook page, Tan empathised with Worker’s Party Chief Low Thia Khiang, who recently criticized mainstream media for their biased coverage of the Hougang by-elections.

“I can understand Low Thia Khiang’s outburst on the main press media for not being fair to the opposition because my team too felt the coverage of my Presidential election was also biased towards the government choice candidate,” he said in an 11-paragraph post on Thursday entitled “Press and the New Media”.

According to a statement made by the Worker’s party website on Monday, Low had questioned the objectiveness of people’s choices because he believes that “information (from the main media) is monopolized”. He also questions the “neutrality” of mainstream media, saying that it is “a potentially powerful tool for or against certain political parties.”

Tan, 72, who very narrowly lost to eventual winner Dr Tony Tan in the race for the presidency last August, believes that new media is an alternative way to go in reaching out to younger Singaporeans.

“There is nothing that those who opt to differ can do anything about what the main media writes. So I decided to win the support through the alternative media. It was an uphill task for me but I had to do it because I believed in my cause,” he wrote.

“My generation is not in touch with the new media because we are not used to telling the world what we do. But the younger generation look to new media for information,” added Tan on his Facebook page, which has over 27,000 followers.

The former PAP member and MP for Ayer Rajah added that new media will become his “main communication tool for the future”. Tan also said he is thankful for the support he has been receiving from the younger generation in teaching him the “tricks of the trade” when it comes to new media.

As of Thursday 11pm, Tan’s post had close to 800 likes and over 100 comments, most of whom praised him for his frank assessment and expressed support.