Video of MPs' speeches available on CNA website

I REFER to the letter, 'Broadcast Budget debate fully' (ST, March 1), by Mr David Goh Kian Ngan.

We agree with Mr Goh that the annual Budget presentation in Parliament is an important event and, hence, we had telecast the ministerial statement on Feb 15 in full on Channel NewsAsia. The current debate in the House started on Feb 27 and MediaCorp television and radio, apart from the news, also carry daily highlights, which many viewers find useful as pertinent capsules of the day's proceedings.

Channel NewsAsia also uploads video clips of the full speeches of each and every speaker on our Special Reports page free of charge every day on our website at channelnews

asia.com/sgbudget07/, and this is kept on for two weeks.

We would like to invite Mr Goh and interested viewers to review the features and news specific to the Budget at the website.

Mr Goh said that showing the MPs speak would give the people a better idea of the person they had elected into Parliament. We can't agree more with him and it is precisely for this reason that Channel NewsAsia devotes a special section on its website to video-stream the full speeches each time Parliament sits. This allows members of the public to view the issues raised and the responses given. We had made it known over the media when we started streaming these video clips last November when the President opened the 11th Session of Parliament, and the subsequent speeches of all the MPs who spoke were uploaded.

We would like to assure Mr Goh and our viewers that Channel NewsAsia and MediaCorp always aim to provide the public with a choice as to whether to get the daily highlights in Parliament on television, on radio, or from the videos on demand at channelnewsasia.com.

Han Chuan Quee (Ms)
VP, Corporate Services
MediaCorp News Pte Ltd