Taiwan Church News
3191 Edition
April 22-28, 2013
Headline News

Reported by Simon Lin

Written by Lydia Ma

In response to Tainan City government’s proclamation that April 7 would henceforth be known as “Freedom of Speech Day” to remember Cheng Nan-jung who died for freedom of speech, the Chen Nan-jung Foundation held a symposium on April 19 at Tainan Theological College and Seminary’s (TTCS) auditorium on the subject of freedom of the press. The foundation invited prominent speakers to share their thoughts on how to fight for freedom of speech and to speak about their own life experiences in advocating for freedom of speech.

Speakers invited to speak at this forum included Huang Chao-kai who is the elder of Minzu Road Presbyterian Church, Chang Chih-ling who is a staff at Youths Against Media Monopoly Alliance, and Li Hui-jen who is a media director. Before they were introduced, TTCS President Wong Chong-gyiau opened the meeting with a short greeting and underscored that churches are more than happy to partner with NGOs in promoting justice and peace.

When his turn came to speak, Huang Chao-kai remarked that it was especially significant and fitting that such a meeting should be held at TTCS because its campus was the “Holy Land of Democracy”. Huang was referring to TTCS students’ bravery during the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident whereby the school’s professors and students were fearless about inviting pro-democracy speakers to speak and supporting those who had been thrown in prison. The school even invited Cheng Nan-jung to speak at a meeting in 1986 whereby he urged the government to end martial law.

Chang Chih-ling spoke about her concerns in light of the acquisition of China Network Systems and Next Media Group by Want-Want China Times. She said that this acquisition surprised many people and became a wake-up call to all that freedom of speech in Taiwan was still incomplete. This was the reason why so many students and people in general continue to track with wariness recent developments of this acquisition.

Li, who used to work with a mainstream media network for 15 years, said that Taiwanese media networks have always lacked journalistic independence because they have always been controlled by the government and big corporations. Many times, when important issues that affect the Taiwanese people are toned down and purposelyunder-reported, reporters feel powerless about it because they need to make a living and they must obey their superiors. Sometimes, their superiors may even request that they write things that shouldn’t be written or write things in a way that slanders others but these journalists are powerless in changing their work environment. Li added that, a lot of networks and newspapers report news with the goal of making the government look good. This kind of government embedded marketing is done in exchange for financial rewards. In order to get government funding, the media rarely dares to offend government agencies or big corporations. In face of such a national reality, Li believes that the only way to change the way the media works is to constantly challenge it.

With that in mind, is there anything Taiwanese can do to prevent the government and big corporations from controlling and dominating the media? Li said that mainstream media often uses specious and illogical arguments to mislead the people and the only way to avoid being fooled is for people be critical thinkers so that they can discern truths from half-truths. He stressed on the importance of such skills in the present time. He suggested that people try creating their own internet media by making their own documentaries or reports and thus have an impact in Taiwanese society by presenting people with the truth.

During the Q&A session, a board member from the Tainan branch of the Lee Teng Hui Association for Democracy said that pan-green media networks hardly report anything negative about local governments if these happen to have DPP mayors and listed Tainan and Kaohsiung cities as examples. He added that this phenomenon gives people the illusion that all is well and peaceful in their city and the image viewers have of their mayor is always positive and clean. However, whether the reality and the true character of their DPP mayors are so promising is another story. This board member concluded that, since the media apparently cannot do its job well, Tainan and Kaohsiung residents must rise up and do something themselves. He cited civil society groups founding the Tainan City Government Monitoring Alliance a few years ago as an illustration.