Beyond the Perfect Picture: Media, Narrative, and Selective Attention in Singapore

Justin Park
Jan 9
3 min read

Updated: Jan 17

Office towers in Singapore’s central business district.

Photo: Roslan Rahman / AFP via Getty Images.

The Language of “Perfect”

The Oxford English Dictionary defines perfect as “having all the required or desirable elements; as good as it is possible to be.” Outside of formal definition, the word circulates more loosely. It is used to describe meals, weather, material objects, even people.

Singapore is frequently framed through similar vocabulary. A simple search across major media outlets and public-facing entities produces a familiar set of descriptors: safe, clean, efficient, and economically prosperous. There is little doubt that the city-state’s infrastructure operates with reliability; public spaces are orderly and well regulated; institutions are known for consistency. Healthcare outcomes rank highly, educational attainment remains strong, and economic indicators routinely place Singapore among the most successful societies in Southeast Asia.

Taken together, these characteristics assemble a picturesque landscape. A picture of coherence. A picture that appears, by conventional measures, to satisfy the criteria implied by perfect.

A Narrative Shaped by Transformation

Such a picture did not emerge by accident. Over the course of roughly six decades, Singapore has undergone one of the most rapid state-led transformations of the modern era, moving from a British colonial port to a highly structured and successful global city. This contemporary perception of Singapore is not rooted solely in visual experience; it is perpetuated through continual reinforcement across media portrayals—both local and foreign.

Media Reinforcement and Orientation

Homegrown Singaporean media, in particular, has tended to foreground themes of stability, cohesion, and achievement. Media programming is largely informational, educational, and affirmational in tone, reinforcing continuity and institutional competence. Within this landscape, success is made especially visible.

By contrast, in media environments such as those of the United States and the United Kingdom, mainstream journalism has more commonly positioned itself as a social watchdog, emphasizing investigative reporting and adversarial scrutiny across policy, economics, and political life. In contrast to this adversarial model, many Singaporean leaders have expressed skepticism toward confrontational journalism, instead articulating a preference for a media environment oriented toward social cohesion and institutional trust.

The Selectivity of Dominant Narratives

Dominant narratives, by their nature, are selective. In order to appear coherent, broad narratives tend to highlight and consist of certain experiences, cultures, and outcomes more consistently than others. This is not necessarily the result of media distortion or deliberate institutional exclusion, but of repetition—of what is normalized and left largely unquestioned over time. Experiences that sit outside this frame are rarely denied their spotlight outright; they simply attract less sustained attention. It is in these quieter spaces across society, where attention thins and more often than not, disappears.

In Singapore, this dynamic is particularly significant given the strength and consistency of its dominant historical, cultural, and political narratives, alongside the local media landscape. In a media environment shaped by coherence and continuity, such narratives alone offer limited insight into the full complexity of Singaporean society. In these gaps closer examination and coverage becomes warranted.

Looking Beyond the Picture: Picture Perfect Project

Understanding what falls beyond dominant representations requires attention not only to outcomes, but to perspective—to how individuals encounter policy, history, societal structure, and social expectation in practice. It is from this premise that Picture Perfect Project emerges: as an interview-driven journalism initiative focused on documenting individual level lived experiences that fall outside our nation’s most familiar and broad representations. Picture Perfect Project aims to bring in overlooked voices across the island, not to contest existing narratives or coverage done by local mainstream media, but to highlight stories often denied sustained attention, revealing a more complete picture of Singaporean society beyond its picturesque polished image. Moreover, Picture Perfect Project is founded on the principle belief that reading beyond the picture reveals complexities that polished narratives alone cannot capture.

In the coming months, Picture Perfect Project aims to highlight the experiences of individuals and groups across the island whose perspectives are often absent from dominant representations of Singaporean society, highlighting such narratives through interview-based articles.