The latest Worldwide Press Freedom Index released on Tuesday by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) saw Taiwan’s ranking plummet to 59th place from last year’s 36th. While the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus was quick to dismiss the significance of the report — with some KMT lawmakers questioning whether it harbored a “certain ideology” (without elaborating) — Taiwan’s poor showing this year should serve as a wake-up call on government interference with the Fourth Estate.
KMT legislative caucus whip Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) yesterday said that most Taiwanese do not think the government compromises media independence. What Liu apparently failed to realize was that the RSF report was the product of responses gathered from hundreds of journalists and media experts worldwide on issues such as censorship, harassment, media independence and legal frameworks.
In other words, the end product of the international media watchdog’s annual press freedom index is a direct result of the opinions of those who work in and are familiar with the news business and know the skeletons in the closet within the industry.
“The new ruling party in Taiwan tried to interfere in state and privately-owned media while violence by certain activists further undermined press freedom,” the RSF press freedom report said in its assessment of Taiwan.
Executive Yuan Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) yesterday called the review “unacceptable.” This rebuttal carries no credibility unless Su and the Government Information Office can come up with substantial evidence to counter the less-than-appealing impressions garnered by RSF.
Among these were the KMT caucus-initiated motion that amended the Public Television Act (公共電視法) in June this year to increase the number of Public Television Station (PTS) board members and supervisors.
The KMT caucus also suggested the budget for Taiwan Broadcasting System-associated TV stations such as PTS, Hakka TV and Taiwan Indigenous Television be used as a mechanism to vet programming.
These tactics were largely seen by critics as government attempts to reinforce control over the foundation’s operations. The practice of “placement marketing” by the government and stories of media outlets and reporters receiving calls from government officials expressing “certain views” are also common in media circles.
It was partly with the aim of safeguarding media independence that the National Communications Commission (NCC) was established in 2006. However, the way the NCC handles complaints — such as forwarding negative feedback about a PTS news talk show containing “too much Hoklo” and accusing the show of being too critical of China — suggest the NCC is itself a having hard time maintaining its status as an independent body.
Press freedom is one of Taiwan’s most precious assets. Warnings, big or small, must be taken seriously to prevent the nation’s press freedom from being eroded any further.
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not