Journalism truths
On Sunday, the Taipei Times published an article on the front page (“Killings of journalists surge in 2022 and 2023, UNESCO says,” Nov. 3, page 1) citing a UNESCO report stating that 162 journalists were killed globally (a journalist every four days), and that Latin America and the Caribbean were the deadliest at 61. I found this odd in the current climate especially as that was followed up by an article on Monday titled “Tehran holding American journalist, US says,” (Nov. 4, page 1). Both articles were on the front page.
Considering the number of journalists that Israel has killed, often targeted killings, and the intentional omission of this, it does appear as an attempt to whitewash or generate manufactured consent in the media.
You did not choose to publish this on the front page by accident.
You chose not to mention once that international journalists are not allowed into Gaza, and not only in that article, but ever. I cannot find a single mention.
You chose not to mention once the number of journalists killed in Gaza and there is only one article about Lebanon.
The heading of the report you cited in your “killings of journalists” article is actually called “85% of journalist killings remain unpunished worldwide” and you have just created the impunity needed to increase that percentage with your selective front-page publishing.
At least 146 journalists have been killed in Gaza.
Gaza is not even the size of Taipei, and the number is more than double the number who were killed in the “worst area” in the report you cited. That area (Latin America and the Caribbean) covers 2.7 million square kilometers. That amounts to one journalist killed for every 45,000km2. Taiwan has a total area of 36,000km2. So not even one journalist for all of the area of Taiwan.
In Gaza, it is one journalist killed for every 2km2.
If those murdered journalists were equally spread out and you walked for an hour, you would walk past at least two. Crimes Against Journalists has that number at 183.
At least 17 journalists that we know of are currently detained by Israel. The environments in which they are detained are well-known.
I am no fan of the Iranian regime, but having a front-page article about one journalist and intentionally ignoring at least 17 Palestinian journalists either shows clear racist bias, or again, a willingness by your editorial team to whitewash or manufacture consent.
During the Holocaust, which is and remains a massive blotch on humanity, Streicher’s publication Der Sturmer knew what they were doing. During the Rwanda genocide, Mille Collines and Kangura knew what they were doing. These publications manufactured consent.
The Western media know exactly what it is doing. You intentionally published two articles about journalists on your front page with no mention at any point anywhere in any edition about the Gazan journalists to detract attention from what Israel is doing in Gaza and Lebanon, and to me, that means you have moved away from ethical journalism.
Gerhard Erasmus
New Taipei City
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS