Nepotism at its worst
I have just read your story on Taiwan's English TV news. ("English newscasts set to battle it out," p.17, Mar. 16) and would like to offer a different angle on the story.
As the general manager of the "lesser-known communications company" you mentioned (one that has won 11 TV awards in the past 14 years) I was one of the people who submitted a bid in the Government Information Offices's (GIO) recent open tender for an English-language news program.
I can tell you in no uncertain terms that not only was the GIO's open tender unfair, its winner, Chinese Television System (CTS), is unqualified to produce a professional English news program.
Having a professional English news program -- one that uses correct grammar and pronunciation in its delivery -- is a basic prerequisite for an internationally minded society, which Taiwan is striving to become (the Executive Yuan's Six-year National Development Plan proclaims, "English education for the entire citizenry").
Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and China all have their own English news programs. Yet on any given day, the English news produced by CTS is fraught with English mistakes.
For example, one recent broadcast offered this gem from the mouth of the anchorwoman: "Tang Yao-ming state (sic) that both the presiden (sic) and the premier have given their nods (sic) to the suggestions, whose (sic) details will be announce (sic) within two months."
These are just the kind of grammar and pronunciation mistakes that are quite common among Chinese-speaking beginners, making English speakers shudder. Upon watching the program, my English-speaking friend said he couldn't understand what the announcer was saying and turned off the TV in despair.
Professionalism should be the number-one consideration when producing English TV news. In other words, the program itself -- as a newscast -- should be a professional one, with good English on top of that.
Yet the sad reality was that the entire bid review process was done in the most unprofessional and prejudiced manner.
This leads us to strongly suspect that the winner was predetermined by politics and nepotism. In this case, one of the judges turned out to be the father of Perng An-chih, the current anchor of the CTS newscast.
An added irony is that having won the bid, CTS remains pessimistic about the future of English TV news. As your article points out "Ni believes the future of English-language television news is, however, in the hands of the politicians rather than the viewing public."
I support the government's endeavor to promote English to make Taiwan more international. Yet the government has to be fair and just in determining the most qualified television production news team in order to gain the affirmation and support of the entire populace -- local and foreign.
Michelle Lee
General Manager,
Creation Production House
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