More than 100 university professors from journalism and communications departments yesterday signed a petition to protest what they called a “rampant practice” of product placement in the media by the government and demanded that it immediately stop spending public money to promote its policies in such a manner.
Lin Lih-yun (林麗雲), a professor of journalism at National Taiwan University, told a press conference that journalism and communications professors had joined efforts to send a strong message to the government over its rampant practice of product placement, also known as “advertorials.”
Advertorials are a form of paid advertisement masquerading as objective news stories. An example would be a pharmaceutical company paying a reporter to write a story on the company’s new painkiller in the form of a seemingly objective article.
A total of 128 professors from 41 departments signed the petition.
Media outlets must also practice self-discipline by rejecting advertorials and the Cabinet and legislature should implement measures to improve the media industry in Taiwan, Lin Lih-yun said, citing the example of veteran reporter Huang Je-bing (黃哲斌), who on Dec. 12 resigned from the China Times newspaper, where he had worked for more than 16 years.
“Taiwanese newspapers are ahead of the world trend for paid promotional news. Since my ideas about this job seem outdated, I am resigning and going home,” Huang said in a statement at the time.
“Reporters have turned into advertising salesmen, while public relations firms and advertising companies have become news writers. The government and big corporations have their hands directly in the news desk, dictating the content of the stories,” he wrote.
Lin Lih-yun said Huang’s statement showed that most people operating in the news sector and media in Taiwan realized they were in a time of crisis.
“The news media have to report the truth and represent the public’s interests. As the fourth estate, the media are able to monitor government performance and promote democratic development. However, reporters’ hands are now tied. The government spends public funds to get policies published in the news media, practicing propaganda and brainwashing its citizens,” Lin Lih-yun said.
National Taiwan Normal University professor Lin Tung-tai (林東泰) said that although the government’s reliance on product placement started under the administration of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), its use had become more serious under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
This is why US-based Freedom House downgraded Taiwan in the freedom of speech category in its latest report, Lin Tung-tai said.
Lin Yuan-hui (林元輝), a professor at National Chengchi University’s Graduate School of Journalism, said the Taipei City Government alone spent NT$130 million (US$4.3 million) from September through last month on product placement for the Taipei International Flora Exposition.
The National Communication Commission announced on Wednesday that it had revoked the license for ERA TV’s variety channel because of the company’s “repeat offenses” under the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法).
The commission said the network had embedded paid advertisements in its programs at least 49 times, for which it has been fined NT$16.75 million.
The station has denied any wrongdoing and is planning to appeal the decision.
However, the move has ignited a wave of concern and protest among the media that the case will set a precedent for the government to exert control over it.
Commenting on the case yesterday, Premier We Den-yih (吳敦義) said the revocation of the operating license had not been finalized and would depend on the ruling of an administrative appeal.
The decision is not settled, but needs to go through legal proceedings to decide whether the commission’s move was completely appropriate, Wu said after attending a folk ritual in Hualien County.
Asked whether the commission was too arbitrary in its first such move since its establishment in 2006, the premier said he is not in a position to comment on a decision made by an independent body.
Additional reporting by CNA
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS