By Lily Hu This semester, I took a course on media literacy. Before the class, probably like most people in Taiwan, I complained about the excess violence, exaggeration, and pornography in the media. In comparison with other countries, Taiwan’s media pays little attention to global issues, limiting us to focus only on minor things happening around the country. Most people complain but never think of the reasons or try to find solutions. After taking the class, I noticed that I was mostly unaware of the hidden problems existing in Taiwan’s media market. Here’s what you can do to take action to change this situation. Action 1: Exercise your right of media accessibility Among hundreds of TV channels, there are some which always broadcast the same content, usually controversial, ideology-promoting issues such as politics and religion. But people also have a right to media accessibility. In many countries, citizens have the right to make their own videos and to broadcast them, and Taiwan is no exception. These channels are called PEG channels, or Public, Educational, and Governmental Use Channels, also called Public Access Channels. According to regulations, people can also ask the government for technical instruction and shooting equipment. Nevertheless, very few Taiwan citizens know that we have this kind of media accessibility, leaving PEG channels to be occupied by commercial or political organizations. Our right to access the media symbolizes an active exercise of our freedom of speech, and so members of my class and I decided to shoot our own video and to apply to broadcast it on PEG channels. First, we called the government for further information about the shooting the video, yet were told that they were not obligated to provide any technical instruction. We had to figure out how to use the camera and microphone by ourselves, and how to edit the sound with the images in order to make them coherent. Although the process of filming and post-production was difficult for amateurs like us, we were satisfied with it and it was broadcast on TV. Our video was short and not very popular, but we successfully exercised our right of media accessibility. Action 2: Take action to supervise the media The chaos of the media is quite familiar in Taiwan. We are bombarded by never-ending news exaggerated by violence, pornography, and sensational themes. There are three reasons why the situation is deteriorating. First, TV channels are only interested in Nielsen ratings, or audience ratings, so they neglect the quality of the news on their programs. Second, the profit-making atmosphere makes producers put emphasis on benefits rather than professional ethics. Lastly, the interference of political forces takes away the objectivity of the media.
One typical example is the presidential election in 2000. The procedure of opening ballot boxes and counting votes takes a long time. Nevertheless, some channels decided to broadcast an estimated amount of votes instead of waiting for the actual results. People became suspicious about the impartiality of the voting procedure. My group decided to take a second step. Since it is important for audiences to supervise themselves rather than rely on government regulations (because media corporations can always find ways to evade responsibility), we observed a piece in the newspaper about a teenage baseball team from Taiwan who won first place in a world competition. However, the newspaper only focused on the fact that they drank beer after their victory instead of reporting the game itself. The report covered what should be praised and overly amplified a small mistake, leaving a bad impression. Hence, we called the newspaper and asked them to change the story. At first, they didn’t even realize that their coverage was inappropriate. They simply wanted to focus on the beer-drinking issue. After an hour of questioning the authenticity of what was written in the report, they finally agreed that that they would change the story and listen to our advice about future issues. They even mentioned that they were surprised that students would pay so much attention to supervising the media and to take action to solve the problem. Although what we did was minor and will not eliminate the chaos in the media market, we did take a first step. In the future, if more and more people voluntarily take action, the media market can eventually become more bright and positive. a
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May 2024
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