Taiwan could soon introduce regulations resembling Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code that would require large digital platforms to pay local news media for the content made available on their platforms, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said on Wednesday, after hosting a meeting with media experts and government representatives.
“We normally would not publicly disclose matters discussed in internal meetings, but this is an important public issue,” NCC Vice Chairman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said, after the agency issued a news release about Tuesday’s meeting.
Many countries have antitrust laws or other measures to regulate large digital platforms, Wong said.
The EU enacted its Digital Markets Act to ensure a competitive digital service market, while South Korea’s Telecommunications Business Act prohibits large digital platforms from dictating the payment options people use to make in-app purchases, he said.
A planned digital development ministry, which is to be established next year, would oversee such issues, Wong said, adding that the NCC and the Fair-Trade Commission would help the planned ministry to formulate regulations.
Participants in Tuesday’s meeting agreed that they should work together to ensure that local news media obtain fair compensation for their content, the NCC said.
National Chung Cheng University journalism professor Hu Yuan-hui (胡元輝) said that Taiwan’s media should take action to safeguard their survival.
The main issue is what percentage of the fees collected from large digital platforms would go to funding the production of quality news content, he said, adding that the fees should go into an independent fund.
The government should first investigate the amount of advertising revenue that Taiwanese news media have lost to large digital platforms and whether the value of original content has diminished through exposure on the platforms, Reporter Foundation executive director Ho Rong-shin (何榮幸) said.
A quantitative and qualitative assessment would allow the government to accurately gauge the effect of large digital platforms on Taiwan as a democratic nation, he added.
Christy Chiang (江雅綺), an associate professor in National Taipei University of Technology’s Graduate Institute of Intellectual Property, said that the EU, the US and Australia have models that tackle the issue from the perspective of market competition.
To address problems in those models, the government could set up an independent fund or consider other ways to appropriate the collected fees, she said.
News media should change their business models so that they become profitable in the digital age, National Chung Cheng University economics professor Chen Ho-chyuan (陳和全) said.
“They should also collectively bargain for a fair distribution of the profits between them and the platforms,” he said.
Taipei Newspaper Association chairman Chen Kuo-wei (陳國瑋) represented Taiwan’s four major newspaper groups at the meeting.
The rights of news media should be protected, given that these cross-national platforms design algorithms that dictate the news that people see and hear, he said.
“Digital capitalism has evolved into digital imperialism. If the problems remain unresolved, Taiwan will become a ‘digital colony’ of these large platforms,” he said.
The government should assist news media in negotiating with these platforms so that there are open and transparent rules, regardless of whether regulations are enacted to protect local news media, he added.
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
Temperatures in northern Taiwan are forecast to reach as high as 30°C today, as an ongoing northeasterly seasonal wind system weakens, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said yesterday that with the seasonal wind system weakening, warmer easterly winds would boost the temperature today. Daytime temperatures in northern Taiwan and Yilan County are expected to range from 28°C to 30°C today, up about 3°C from yesterday, Tseng said. According to the CWA, temperature highs in central and southern Taiwan could stay stable. However, the weather is expected to turn cooler starting tonight as the northeasterly wind system strengthens again
COOLING OFF: Temperatures are expected to fall to lows of about 20°C on Sunday and possibly 18°C to 19°C next week, following a wave of northeasterly winds on Friday The Central Weather Administration (CWA) on Sunday forecast more rain and cooler temperatures for northern Taiwan this week, with the mercury dropping to lows of 18°C, as another wave of northeasterly winds sweeps across the country. The current northeasterly winds would continue to affect Taiwan through today, with precipitation peaking today, bringing increased rainfall to windward areas, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said. The weather system would weaken slightly tomorrow before another, stronger wave arrives on Friday, lasting into next week, Liu said. From yesterday to today, northern Taiwan can expect cool, wet weather, with lows of 22°C to 23°C in most areas,
Taiwan sweltered through its hottest October on record, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, the latest in a string of global temperature records. The main island endured its highest average temperature since 1950, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng said. Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as human-induced climate change contributes to ever more erratic weather patterns. Taiwan’s average temperature was 27.381°C as of Thursday, Liu said. Liu said the average could slip 0.1°C by the end of yesterday, but it would still be higher than the previous record of 27.009°C in 2016. "The temperature only started lowering around Oct. 18 or 19
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