TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan ranked highly on Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) press freedom index in 2023, which said the country had very good conditions for journalists.
Taiwan’s high scores for press freedom are often presented in the context of looming Chinese authoritarianism, and highlight Taiwan’s role as a model for high quality reporting in the region. While this is often true for foreign correspondents in Taiwan who report on countries where press freedom is severely lacking, this is not the case for Taiwan’s domestic news media.
National Chengchi University assistant professor and media expert Huang Jaw-Nian (黃兆年), said while there are some journalists in Taiwan that prioritize facts and non-biased reporting, a large number do not. He said the result is one of the lowest levels of public trust in the media of any democratic country.
Huang’s assertion is backed by research. In 2022, the University of Oxford and Reuters found only 27% of Taiwanese trust the news overall, and where trust in the media exists, it is developed through outlets’ highly polarized political affiliations. RSF found the same, and said in their 2023 report that “journalists suffer from a very polarized media environment dominated by sensationalism and the pursuit of profit.”
Huang said that while the media is no longer controlled by an authoritarian state, it does suffer from authoritarian influence, as the commercial nature of the small number of companies now in control of Taiwan’s media allows foreign companies and other groups to influence the media landscape.
Taiwan’s growth in press freedom occurred concurrently with media market reform that followed a wider wave of neo-liberal economic policies that swept the globe beginning in the late 1980s, Huang said. He said as full liberalization of the media was realized, Taiwan's media became increasingly susceptable to Chinese influence.
“China's influence makes use of the free market in Taiwan, to basically provide economic resources to these media outlets, while some media owners in Taiwan have actually based their businesses in the Chinese market,” Huang said.
“Is it actually media freedom, or is it freedom for the big companies, or even Beijing's freedom?” Huang asked.
Speaking in late March, Huang said fake news spreads easily in Taiwan because outlets look for sensational stories that will increase the click-through rate.
An April 12 Facebook post from the Ministry of National Defense warning the public to disregard false information being spread on the popular social networking site PTT.
He said that even if the profit motive is not coming directly from Beijing, making money through clickable stories on social media is incentive enough for Taiwanese media to spread pro-Chinese narratives. As recently as April, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense posted on Facebook imploring people not to spread false information about Chinese military drills around the island.
Real life consequences were attributed to poor fact checking in 2018, when the suicide of a Taiwanese diplomat in Japan was linked to the spread of misinformation. A widely shared story alleged that the Taiwanese diplomat’s inaction led to Taiwanese becoming stranded at a Japanese airport that was hit by a typhoon, and that China’s embassy had stepped in to rescue them.
The story was later proved to be untrue, and was initially thought to have been fabricated by Chinese actors attempting to spread disinformation, while some sources suggest that Taiwanese actors working to aid local opposition parties were responsible. Regardless, diplomat Su Chi-cheng (蘇啟誠) committed suicide before a meeting to review the incident in relation to the false claims.
Taiwan News spoke to a retired journalist who began working in Taiwan in the early 1990s, who agreed that accuracy often took second place. “I think Taiwan’s media should tighten up on basic news reporting principles, such as truthfulness, objectivity, and precision, which are obviously loose in many news reports in Taiwan,” said George Liao, who previously reported for Taiwan News.
Protesters carry a coffin to protest the death of Taiwanese diplomat Su Chi-cheng. (CNA photo)
To tackle the problems created by poor journalistic standards and commercialization, Huang recommends better government regulation, and improved education for journalists. He said that involvement and oversight by government regulators has increased over the past decade, and that their involvement should continue going forward.
Huang said that Taiwan’s National Communications Commission (NCC) should use their ability to fine outlets that publish false information more often. He said he believes this could help to establish a more positive culture, and provide a mechanism for journalists to incentivize better reporting.
“We need strong check and balance mechanisms for the media,” Huang said. “I don't think self-discipline is sufficient from past experience.”
Huang said a second and more fundamental change could be achieved through better education for those working in the media.
“In terms of media professionalism for journalists and reporters in Taiwan, we need them to really believe in principles, ethical principles, professional principles, that they really insist on when they do their job,” he said. "I believe education is necessary for a positive culture in the Taiwanese media field.”
