August 11, 07:56 AM 
514 Chai Chee Lane 03-16, Singapore 469029 CNN, a media outlet that has been famously antagonistic towards Singapore, has put out a news piece oozing with so much feel-good vibes it makes one question if the Singapore government actually paid for it.
A bit of history: Previously, less than half a year ago, CNN fell for an amateur prank announcing the passing of Lee Kuan Yew prematurely in March 2015, but did their best to avoid acknowledging their boo-boo and even insinuated that there was a government cover-up.
To be fair, the mistake caught many international media outlets off-guard, including China’s SINA, TV network CCTV and Hong Kong’s Phoenix China News. But all of which subsequently apologised for the error made about Lee’s death. Except CNN.
Over the years, CNN has regularly picked up on stories and issues that are characteristically harsh on Singapore, putting the country in an unflattering light.
For example:
Unhappy with sex services? Don’t call us, Singapore says
Singapore’s billion-dollar sport stadium wows architects, but can it get its turf to grow?
Like Hong Kong, Singapore needs democracy – Chee Soon Juan
Nothing philosophically wrong with their approach to news coverage focused on our island-state, except when juxtaposed with this latest 50th National Day news coverage, it is almost as if CNN have become MediaCorp's Channel 5: Ra-ra-ing and a-go-go-ing like what a nation-building media should do.
You can check out the highly celebratory CNN report here:
Still not convinced CNN going all docile feels out of place?
Check out their accompanying article "50 reasons Singapore is the world's greatest city (this week)".
It is so smarmy, it would not look out of place appearing in one of those asinine lifestyle blogs.
(Click on picture to go to article)
Here are some of the so-called reasons they used to proclaim Singapore as the greatest that reads like they are really comfortable living up to the stereotype of the clueless Western media types or paid off hacks:
7. No waiting around
[...]
The first bag off a wide-body airplane has to be on the carousel in 12 minutes; the last has to arrive within 30 minutes.
It just gets quicker from there -- Singapore trains always run on time. (Emphasis mine)
And
16. More taxis than you knew existed
With close to 30,000 official taxis servicing a population of fewer than 5.5 million people, it's usually easy to get a ride. (Emphasis mine)
And they're cheap. (Emphasis mine)
It's rare for a ride to be far enough away from anywhere that it costs more than US$20.
Okay. Can.
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