MONOGRAPH: Performing Fear in Television Production: Practices of an illiberal democracy

My first book, Performing Fear in Television Production: Practices of an Illiberal democracy, published by Amsterdam University Press in 2022 is on authoritarian resilience in the media. Based on a production ethnography of Singaporean television, it raises questions about how far the audience has become a surrogate for but also exceed the illiberal state in the ‘post-public sphere’. The book encourages readers to rethink contemporary media governmentality in conversation with global trends towards anti-fandom, public policing and surveillance culture, exploring how ‘post-public’ social imaginaries emerging among state and media practices may be remaking the terms of authoritarian media production.

A preview of the book can be found here: https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789463724579/performing-fear-in-television-production

You will also find an AI-generated podcast discussing the book below.

I also wrote a piece for Academic SG that you can find here: https://www.academia.sg/academic-views/television-censorship/

Quotes from book reviews:
"This is an absorbing and sophisticated media ethnography on affect, which is no easy feat for any researcher to undertake... Although this fieldwork is emotionally taxing, Fong’s empathy is reserved in her “interpretative space” for producers as she suspends judgements on their responses to “anticipatory paranoia... While the state has long attributed “fear” to the unverifiable “conservative” Singapore “majority” to shift its own political intolerance to “the people,” the book notes how media authorities are now subject to this “audience problematic” too... The many critical questions raised in this exciting monograph will greatly inspire scholars, lecturers, and students working in media studies, cultural studies, television studies, audience studies, censorship studies, production studies, and media anthropology."
- How Wee Ng 2023, Television and New Media

"One of the most inspiring intellectual highlights of this book is the concept “affective superaddressee.” ... The affective superaddressee is a powerful concept in understanding how media content is generated. It acknowledges that producers are not just addressing the immediate, tangible audience (for example, the audience who comments on social media immediately after the show) but are also considering the emotional impact of their content on a more abstract, collective audience. This audience is not physically present but is nonetheless a significant presence in the minds of content creators, shaping the stories they tell and the way they tell them... Scholars have struggled to identify the unspoken and often inaccessible rules of censorship set by the ruling party, while Fong’s concept offers an alternative approach... Overall, Fong’s work engages in a dialogue with classical theories that promote critical thinking about television production practices in the context of an illiberal democracy. Although it is very difficult, engaging in dialogue with classical theories is of paramount importance. It is a cornerstone of scholarly practices that can enrich academic discourse and contribute to the collective pursuit of knowledge and truth. It is a dynamic process that honors the past while continually seeking new understanding. This is what I believe this book seeks to do."
- Renyi He 2024, Global Media and China

"The contemplative vividness of Performing Fear lends significant depth of discussion that renders it an important addition to Singapore media scholarship."
- Howard Lee 2024, European Journal of Cultural Studies.