In the interview, The Other Side of the Tube, SM Lee said the MediaCorp-SPH MediaWorks competition has improved standards, but "both are losing money and both are haemorrhaging and they are trying very hard to stop the haemorrhage. But I don't think it is possible. I think both are going to keep on losing".

SM Lee was characteristically blunt about the medium's role in the future.

He said: "The problem now is to have our own television stations able to have their viewership. So that when the Government needs to talk, the Prime Minister has to talk directly to the people.

"There is a local station that has a regular viewership and he can get his message across. I mean, that's the idea behind the younger generation's push for competition."

He said TV will continue to play an important role in the political life of Singapore. It has a power which SM Lee is aware of.

Apart from getting the Government's message across, it also played a significant part in recording the turbulence and tension behind significant milestones of Singapore's political history.

He said: "It was an instrument to try and get our message across. And our message then — first to get into Malaysia and build a multi-racial society."

But is TV a tool of control?

Said SM Lee: "I wouldn't say it is control. I would say it was a way of guiding people along the path we wanted to go. And to do that you must have credibility. And once you lose credibility, then the instrument becomes blunt.

"So you cannot depart from reality, because people receive news not just from television. They go to coffee shops. They actually see things. They discuss things. It has got to be in consonance with what they perceive as reality. And they got other sources of information — foreign magazines, foreign publications."

Of his TV habits, SM Lee said: "For local programmes, I would watch CNA because it's more convenient and it's more international. Occasionally, I would watch Channel 8 or Channel U just to see how the competition is going. That's it."

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