Flick the off switch on dreadful television

A recent poll by the Government Information Office (GIO) shows that almost 60 percent of the public are dissatisfied with Taiwan's television program-ming. The reasons given are that it is too violent and vulgar, and that there are too many political programs with wildly exaggerated or misleading content.

In the poll, 83.9 percent of respondents found programming to have content of an excessively sexual or violent nature, and to contain gossip or morally corrupting material that was harmful to the development of young people. For these reasons, 53 percent of respondents were in favor of media reform.

There is no debate over the contribution television has made to modern society, but it has also brought numerous problems. Unlike culture, education or public services, television operates within a commercial structure, so it is hardly surprising that it has turned into a monster. Shih Lan-mo (施蘭謨), an authority on mass communications, once described television as a "plug-in electrical drug." This description was prophetic.

The biggest responsibility of the media is to answer to the public's "right to know." But it should also respect people's right to privacy. How these rights are balanced should depend on considerations of the public good and social stability. Violations of the right to privacy include invasion of privacy, slander and damage to reputation, unauthorized listening to secrets or otherwise disrupting secret communications, unauthorized disclosure of people's assets or reporting on the private lives of others.

We only have to turn on the television and we will see numerous examples of all the above violations of the right to privacy. The GIO has published a list of 28 programs which violate program certification regulations. This should serve as a warning to the media as a whole.

The Reuters news agency has compiled a list of words that should not be used in its reports, and many other foreign news organizations have style books which journalists use as a guide in writing their reports. Reporters working for the Central News Agency used to be bound by ethical rules and regulations, but many news organizations today have put these precious regulations aside.

The Federal Association of German Newspaper Publishers has three categories of language the media are forbidden to use:

1. Discriminatory language, such as the use of "handicapped" for "physically challenged;" words that reflect racial prejudice are also to be avoided.

For example, the regular appearance of the word "nigger" in Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn led to be it being banned for many years in the US.

2. Sensationalist language, such as "terrorist organization," "demon" and "the best" should be avoided to prevent reports becoming distorted or extreme.

3. Coarse language; words like "shit" should not appear in the newspaper.

A knowledge of semantics is a way in which we can have a better understanding of languages and words while a the same time maintaining a level of objectivity toward the world around us. This is an important lesson for journalists to learn.

Someone once said that "you are what you watch" and recommended that we consider what we watch or read rationally, rather than let the media lead us by the nose. When the news is reporting things untruthfully, we should turn it off, change the channel or write a letter of complaint to the station.

To get away from sensationalism, exaggeration and gossip, what's wrong with just turning off the box?

Cheng Jim-ming is professor of journalism at the Graduate Institute of Journalism at Chinese Culture University.

Translated by Ian Bartholomew