In today's world, with its information networks, free media and emphasis on speed and competitiveness in every aspect of life, bogus information still manages to pervade the media.
Whether due to a reporter's subjective perceptions or the inherent biases of news organizations, the information that readers see before a balanced consensus has been arrived at may well be partial or presented toward a specific end.
No wonder former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger once lamented that he could distinguish whether news reports were true or false when he was serving as secretary of state, but after leaving his government post, he could no longer do so when he read the newspaper every day.
The media in Taiwan, which have always been bloodthirsty, appear to have been in a rush recently to catch up with the trend of "turning everything into a multi-media circus." Not even political affairs can avoid that fate. Hairstyles, swimming technique and jogging ability are the points of comparison between mayoral candidates. Those legislators who are good at putting on a show are finally winning recognition akin to a kind of "bull-shit award."
Some stray from the facts. Others cater to the lowest- common denominator. Freeing the media was originally seen as both a catalyst and a preservative for Taiwan's developing freedom and democracy. But in the end, it has become a stimulant that can easily make people agitated and forget themselves.
Such an environment is gradually causing people to lose the ability to reflect soberly and critically about issues.
It is in such an environment that Taiwan's equivalent of the Pulitzers, the "Prize for News Excellence," is being born.
The prizes have been established to encourage the decency and scrupulous professionalism of media workers. The Prize for News Excellence Foundation announced on July 17 that there will be three categories of prizes -- newspapers and news agencies, broadcast news and television news.
I think the public, which is fed up with our current media culture, should have great ex-pectations regarding this development. Everyone hopes the "Prize for News Excellence" will have a purifying effect on the media.
Of the three prize categories, the one that concerns me most is the newspaper category, with its link to the written word.
The late US columnist, Walter Lippman, once described newspapers as the "bible of democracy," meaning that they are the book out of which a people determines a demo-cracy's conduct.
Lippman's words cut to the heart of the greatest social res-ponsibility shouldered by newspapers. Newspapers are seen as another branch of the government. They can serve as checks and balances to political power. For this reason, the public longs particularly for newspapers to play a rational, neutral and objective role. Naturally, people don't like bogus information. The standard used to judge if a news-paper is first-rate is whether or not it faithfully presents the facts and serves the truth.
A hundred years ago, New York Times publisher Adolph Ochs set the following editorial policy for his paper: "To give the news impartially, without fear or favor, regardless of party, sect, or interest involved." A century later, these principles are still golden and irrefutable.
A word to all news workers -- consider the "Prize for News Excellence" a mark to strive for. If you do, the public will be able to to enjoy better quality news service at the same time that Tai-wan gains a few more reporters of Pulitzer-winning caliber.
Chiu Li-li is a member of the Tainan City Council.
Translated by Ethan Harkness
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