Edelman Trust Barometer reveals uncanny correlation between low press freedom and high Govt trust

The Singapore mainstream media proudly reported that trust in the government has increased slightly in Singapore.

According to an annual survey conducted by the global communications firm Edelman, the government remains the most trusted institution here.

The 2024 Trust Barometer showed an increase in trust in Singapore by 1 percentage point from 2023 across four institutions: the government (77 percent), non-governmental organizations or NGOs (66 percent), business (63 percent), and media (60 percent).

What is interesting about the survey results regarding trust in the government and other aspects is the almost perfect correlation between the trust scores and the press freedom index.

Take the top-ranked country for trust in government, for example, Saudi Arabia. It scored a high 86 for trust in government, gaining an additional 3 points for 2024. At the same time, it scored 32.43 on the Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, dropping in ranking to 170 with a deteriorating state of press freedom.

The same goes for China, which scored 85 in the same survey for government trust. It was given a score of 22.97, ranking as the second worst in terms of the press freedom index.

A scatterplot of the scores from the 28 countries in Edelman’s survey, plotted against their press freedom index scores, suggests that lower press freedom correlates with higher government trust. Had North Korea been included in the survey, it might also have been expected to rank among the top three positions.

One cannot help but also refer to what the Minister in charge of Public Service, Chan Chun Sing, said when he rejected the proposal by Mr Louis Chua, a Workers’ Party Member of Parliament for Sengkang GRC, for ministers to publicly declare their assets.

Mr Chua expressed his opinion that incorporating asset declaration into the code of conduct would serve as a proactive measure to counter potential allegations of corruption and unexplained wealth, further mitigating conflicts between private interests and public responsibilities.

“In countries like the UK, ministers are required to disclose their financial interests publicly, including investment properties. Perhaps we can consider adopting such a practice in Singapore as well.”

Mr Chan referenced Singapore’s consistent ranking in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), suggesting that Singapore’s relatively low levels of corruption are not solely due to stringent rules on asset declaration.

“But those countries who supposedly have more elaborate rules are actually ranked much lower. For example, the UK was ranked between 11 and 20.”

It might seem that what Mr. Chan is suggesting is that the more transparent a government is, the less likely it is to be viewed positively by the population.

Referring to the scatterplot of the CPI and the Press Freedom Index, a correlation can be made, where press freedom is somewhat a factor that affects the CPI — other than Singapore being a outlier.

While the UK is ranked 20th in 2023’s CPI and Singapore fifth, the UK is ranked 26th in the world in terms of press freedom, while Singapore is ranked 129th out of the countries surveyed.

Perhaps, deep down, political leaders in Singapore realize that greater government transparency and media freedom allow the population to better understand what is truly happening in the country, diminishing their ability to control narratives as they have for decades.

This is probably why the Singapore government is clamping down on alternative media and using taxpayers’ money to support its mouthpieces, such as the publications under the Singapore Media Trust.

In this context, an illustrative example of recent reports shedding light on “exactly what is going on in the country” can be found in a news article from The Straits Times, dated 14 March.

The article, which discusses the Singapore Ministry of Manpower’s 2023 labour report, simply states, “Singapore’s total employment grew by 88,400 in 2023, largely driven by employment growth among foreigners,” without highlighting that a staggering 94.5% of this growth was attributable to foreigners.

This omission might contribute to the findings of the Edelman survey, revealing that in Singapore, 46% of respondents fear being misled by government leaders. Furthermore, more than half of the respondents believe that journalists deliberately attempt to mislead the public.