Readers have seen dramatic changes in the content of their newspapers over the past five years. But what has happened behind the scenes to bring about this new look? In mid-March, the Free China Review asked four editors to discuss the new press environment and the ways they and their papers have responded to it. Participating were Liu Yung-chang (劉永昌), editorial writer, the Liberty Times; Hu Yuan-hui (胡元輝), editor-in-chief, the Independence Morning Post; Rong Fu-tiang (戎撫天), deputy editor-in-chief, the China Times; and Alice Kao (高惠宇), deputy editor-in chief, the United Daily News. Excerpts from their discussion follow.
Liu Yung-chang: We started as a local newspaper based in Taichung. Even after we moved to Taipei in 1986, we still weren't considered a professional paper. But on January I, 1988, when the government announced the press liberation, the paper was transformed into today's Liberty Times. The layout was improved, and so were our editorial standards.
But the paper is still criticized because of its political stance. Our reporters have a tendency to put personal opinions in their stories, and readers can sense this. If this happens too often, readers begin questioning the newspaper's objectivity. The Liberty Times policy states that reporters should not editorialize, and they are frequently reminded of this. But a policy is just a policy. In reality, some things are beyond our control.
Rong Fu-tiang—"International stories are good for Taiwan readers. There is no reason that they should be forced to read so much local political news."
Part of the problem is that reporters are young. In the past, they had to work several years on other beats before they were assigned to political or economic news. Because of today's shortage of reporters, inexperienced people are being assigned to very important news stories. Besides, many of them were not trained as journalists, and on-the-job training is not well handled. It's not surprising that reporters often editorialize and make other mistakes.
The foreign press has had an impact on our paper. For example, our layout has been strongly influenced by USA Today. In fact, every day I read several international papers, like the [Hong Kong-based] South China Morning Post, to learn how they handle their news and layout. But we still have problems with final copy. I think we probably make the most mistakes among all the major papers. Over the past six months, we have required our proof readers to be particularly careful. They are fined if they fail to find a mistake be fore it is published.
I would like to mention how we have attracted more readers. I realize that our promotional activity of giving away millions of dollars in gold bars and coins has been quite controversial, but it has also been very effective. It was done to change the public's reading habits by taking advantage of human weakness. Readers might not switch from another daily paper, but at least they might start reading ours as well. I've often told my co-workers that if I didn't work for the Liberty Times and if I had only one paper to read, it wouldn't be our paper.
Hu Yuan-hui—"There is a new attitude about the press. We can no longer bear having only one color and flavor. Diversity is the trend."
As for our content, I think the Liberty Times can be said to respect the wishes of the 20 million people in Taiwan. We believe that the unification of China is the final goal of the country. Therefore, the news reporting and editorials focus on promoting this. Also, I think we are the fairest paper in reporting on the KMT [Kuomintang], even though many people ask if we favor the DPP [Democratic Progressive Party]. In fact, our publisher is a member of the KMT. We believe that the coverage of the parties should be based on professional standards—it depends on how important the news is. But our long-term readers certainly have a tendency to believe that we favor the DPP because our coverage of the party is more extensive than the United Daily News and other newspapers.
Hu Yuan-hui: The issues that most newspapers would not or dared not touch in the past now receive more coverage since the relaxation of press restrictions in 1988. Newspapers are more open. This is a major change. For example, the issue of Taiwan independence versus unification with the mainland used to be considered a sensitive topic and there were some taboos when handling it. In part, this was a result of the general political environment and of restrictive laws and regulations.
Management-labor relations are another example. In the past, because the press was closely tied to the industrial sector and to people in power, the topic was handled very cautiously. Since 1988, both the physical and psychological restrictions on the press have been lifted or relaxed. People now want to see more open discussions in their newspapers.
Alice Kao—"Reporters used to have too little freedom and too much prudence; today's reporters have too much freedom and too little prudence."
While a newspaper needs to develop its own style in order to compete in the market, it should not change just because of an altered press environment. It should remain faithful to its declared positions and principles. Strictly speaking, there has been no major change in our editorial standards since 1988. But in response to the new social, political, and economic environment, we have made adjustments in our approach and topic selection. The public is more concerned about many issues that were neglected in the past, and our paper reflects this.
We focus on local news, and our major goals are to be objective and fair. In actual practice, however, problems arise. We know that it is almost impossible for reporters to leave out personal values. Separating facts from subjective criticism remains problematic. But objectiveness and fairness are still worthy goals.
The press environment has been in transition since 1988. At first, it was chaotic. It was unstable both in news reporting and editorial work. But in the last two years there have been good signs of adjustment. There is a new attitude about the press. We can no longer bear having only one color and flavor. Diversity is the trend. Although we can't satisfy everyone or expect everyone to accept us, I hope our newspaper will attract a broad range of readers. Our own targeted readers are those whose intellectual and economic standards are above average. We provide them with professionally processed, high quality information. We feel that our newspaper should serve a pluralistic, multicultural society.
It is wrong to assume that politics has no influence on reporting. In any paper, people work together day after day and gradually a unique style of reporting evolves. Owners and publishers also have influence on the standards of reporting.
Social and political changes do make a difference. Newspapers are expanding their leisure and travel sections, reporting formerly taboo subjects, and expanding their coverage of environmental and health issues.
We especially feel that we have to make adjustments as the social and political environment changes. In the past, for example, we often told politicians that since we are a private-sector newspaper, they could expect more criticism. But we did not just criticize the ruling party's performance. When it did something that benefited the public, we also praised it.
In the same way, we would often give support to the opposition party, but we did not support all its activities nor did we condone all its behavior, especially when it went against the public interest. Then we would censure them. Now that the opposition party is gaining more strength and influence, we are more strict about criticizing its performance.
We used to give more support to the politically "weak groups." Now we are trying to give more coverage to economically weak groups, such as those promoting environmental protection. We don't get much pressure from the government because of this; more comes from industry. This pressure is significant because most newspapers depend heavily on or are closely related to the business sector. But this problem can be resolved through discussion within the newspaper in order to find a proper balance.
Rong Fu-tiang: Unlike the electronic media, the print media is now very open. People can publish newspapers or magazines as they wish. But in a market economy, a newspaper is like merchandise, so the concepts of positioning and marketing also apply. To survive, a newspaper or magazine must have its own character to attract readers. As a result, each paper plays a different role and has its own standpoint in handling news, editorials, and contributions from readers. The China Times targets the whole society, so we don't have a special positioning for the paper. We have to cover everything.
Taiwan's outstanding economic performance has made it more important internationally. It has also helped our media people working abroad. Several years ago, when I was doing a story in the United States, American officials would not grant me any interviews, and there was no way I could get in the United Nations through official channels. All this is changing. Most foreign governments are now very willing to grant interviews. We have visited several Asian countries lately, and the people there made us feel they were honored to be interviewed by the Taiwan media.
Also, international stories are good for Taiwan readers. There is no reason that they should be forced to read so much local political news. Changes abroad can have much greater influence on Taiwan's future. Taiwan readers must realize this and pay more attention to international news.
A newspaper is responsible to its readers, but its first priority is to survive in the market. To do so, the publisher needs to set a policy that combines different opinions. People in the various newspaper subsections might not be totally satisfied with the overall policy, but they can all live with it. Of greater importance, the policy has to make the paper competitive. Thus, journalists may have their own points of view, but they need to be aware of the broader perspective of the paper.
Today, Taiwan has no taboos, and I think that is exactly why there are so many problems and criticisms of our political news. In fact, certain taboos are necessary. Some newspapers still emphasize the differences between the so-called Taiwanese and the more recent mainland immigrants. Although many people say that these differences are a fact and that we have to live with them, I think there are more constructive ways of viewing and handling this issue. A proper attitude can minimize the impact of the problem. The media should therefore maintain some taboos when reporting this kind of news; it should be handled with extra caution.
Politicians sometimes make mistakes, but the media are not allowed to. And the media should not use a politician's mistakes as an excuse to make problems more serious. It is common for legislators to use sensational words to catch people's attention. But the media should have some restraint over what they report. Some media not only don't have any self-control, they also aggravate the situation and may help precipitate other problems.
Political change can influence editorial policy. For example, after last December's election, we held several editorial meetings to discuss the results. We agreed that the election was a reflection of the latest political attitudes and that we should therefore make some adjustments. For instance, before the election we had considered the Taiwan independence issue to be the concern of a very small group of people. But some candidates who stressed this issue won in the election, this told us that we have to keep up on the topic faith fully and give such news more space.
Alice Kao: As a forty-year-old news paper with an established reputation, the United Daily News did not make any drastic changes in its position simply because martial law and newspaper restrictions were lifted. The paper has been consistent about maintaining its long-held stand. In the past, however, we did sometimes play up or play down some news on purpose. For instance, we intentionally played down the news of political dissidents and their activities during the so-called tangwai period [from the late I 970s, when the political opposition movement emerged, until 1986, when the opposition Democratic Progressive Party was formed]. But we have made some adjustments. A recent study indicated that we are among the papers that carry the most coverage of the opposition.
The United Daily News is a private, family-owned newspaper, and the owners' ideology and political standing certainly have an influence on its editorial policy. Because of this, the paper has been characterized by its anti-Taiwan independence, anti-communist stance. But this does not prevent us from striving to serve the common interest, which is our ruler in measuring the appropriateness of news reporting. After all, our editorial stand and policies are decided by the editorial department, not by the publisher.
Furthermore, we always try to keep up with the public's concerns. Since the new legislature convened in February, we have observed that one of the biggest issues is the great psychological gap between residents of rural and urban areas. Legislators elected from outside Taipei have expressed strong dissatisfaction with the president, premier, and other government leaders. They complain that these officials fail to understand the public's priorities in the rest of the island. In light of this, we sent a group of reporters to southern Taiwan to do on-the-spot interviews, and then published a series of features on this issue.
Our basic principles in quoting someone is that we must quote faithfully, without exaggerating what the person means and keep the writer's personal views out of the report. But I have to admit that so far we are not doing well enough. Today's journalists are much younger and have personal views on everything. This is in striking contrast to senior reporters who gained experience under martial law.
Reporters used to have too little freedom and too much prudence; today's reporters have too much freedom and too little prudence. Many people therefore criticize news reports for being inaccurate and too subjective. To avoid such criticisms, editors need to be more careful in the way they handle news about opposition political figures or groups, and reporters must eliminate prejudices or preconceptions in their stories.
Now that the high-level political strife [between the president's office and the Executive Yuan] which began two years ago has ended, people in the mass media should ask themselves whether their handling of the news worsened the already intense political feelings. In fact, many people say that newspapers did contribute to Taiwan's political instability during this period, and I would not say that these people are 100 percent wrong.
You ask if Taiwan's changing economic role in Asia has affected press coverage about the region, including mainland China. In my opinion, there is no major influence. Frankly, Taiwan's current economic performance is not as excellent as the question suggests. Japan's economic situation is declining, and Taiwan is also affected. I think that local newspapers have devoted too many pages to the booming main land economy. As a result, many of our small and medium-sized businesses have been enticed to invest in mainland China.
How far can we go in covering environmental problems? If no conflict occurs, we usually focus on such topics as the pollution conditions, the standards for pollution control, and government policies. We don't have any predetermined position or limits on reporting. But when an environmental protection issue involves conflict, we do our best to give balanced reports and avoid sensational wording. We are convinced that environmental protection has become a mainstream issue, and that it will continue to be so into the twenty first century. It is also clear that the mass media are now siding with environmentalists, and this is worrying industrialists and government economic agencies.
Is there too much local political reporting? Many of my friends have complained that newspapers over the past two years have flooded the public with this kind of news-they have politicized society by extensive coverage of local political issues. On the bright side, people now have much better knowledge of politics and can more effectively critique political figures and national affairs. For example, we have seen that the president and the premier sometimes have different views on things, that the ruling KMT has contending subgroups, and that many political figures or groups are not as perfect as we used to believe. This helps people see politics in a more realistic light, including the bargaining process that is always part of policy formulation.
The Taiwan press has not been influenced very much by internationally known newspapers. Take the New York Times as example: It has an error-picking team to proofread the paper every day, and if serious mistakes are found, it will print a correction notice the next day, Regrettably, Taiwan's newspapers do not spur themselves in this way, to say nothing of admitting factual errors in their reports. Numerous unbelievable mistakes are seen every day in every newspaper, including the United Daily News.
Although we haven't achieved the quality, accuracy, and unbiased reporting of papers like the New York Times, it would be unfair to say such papers have had no influence at all on the local press. Many young reporters have learned a great deal about Western journalistic techniques and ethics. And in recent years, due to the rapid changes in the domestic political scene, in-depth reporting and investigative reporting are gaining popularity. This is a pleasing development, but accuracy is still the top priority in any kind of reporting. •