The first reaction among many of my colleagues to the Government Information Office's (GIO) announcement on Monday that our ETTV News-S channel's license would not be renewed was shock, and then anger and a desire to stage a street protest.
It should go without saying that this is a media freedom issue and we would be justified in taking to the streets. The problem is that the GIO is half right. There is too much sensationalism in Taiwan's news media and our news channels have been part of the problem. There are many aspects of this decision that we do not agree with, but at the end of a post-midnight huddle, we decided to take our lumps and try to learn from this experience -- and to make a commitment that will hopefully improve the overall quality of news channels.
Eastern Broadcasting Co (EBC, which operates the ETTV channels) will abide by the law and we will appeal a decision we believe to be flawed, but we've also decided that the GIO has made some points that we would do well to heed.
In your editorial ("Taiwan's media needs discipline," Aug. 2, page 8), you conclude that you "hope that media proprietors or managers can adopt criteria for dealing with news coverage or programs in a professional and self-disciplined manner to win the support of the general public." We are doing just that.
Like all TV operators in Taiwan, we have wrestled with a desire to produce first-rate news and analysis while dealing with minute-by-minute ratings pressure to show sensationalistic content (which provide a ratings boost). Like our competitors, in far too many instances we have taken the sensationalistic route.
Now, our very survival is at stake. The GIO has made it clear that ETTV News' license renewal is conditional on improving the quality of news coverage and putting self-discipline mechanisms into place. Even as we try to appeal the loss of our other news channel's license, ETTV News will follow through on a promise to be a more responsible news provider and we will try to convince our competitors to join us in establishing an electronic media self-monitoring organization.
For many of us at EBC, it is with one part anxiety and one part excitement that we embark on this mission to develop a more mature and responsible brand of media freedom. Will our changes gain the support of the general public, or will we suffer reduced ratings? ETTV News-S is no longer available, but ETTV News is still on cable. Please stay tuned to watch this story unfold.
Jacques van Wersch
Taipei
Weeks into the craze, nobody quite knows what to make of the OpenClaw mania sweeping China, marked by viral photos of retirees lining up for installation events and users gathering in red claw hats. The queues and cosplay inspired by the “raising a lobster” trend make for irresistible China clickbait. However, the West is fixating on the least important part of the story. As a consumer craze, OpenClaw — the AI agent designed to do tasks on a user’s behalf — would likely burn out. Without some developer background, it is too glitchy and technically awkward for true mainstream adoption,
On Monday, a group of bipartisan US senators arrived in Taiwan to support the nation’s special defense bill to counter Chinese threats. At the same time, Beijing announced that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had invited Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) to visit China, a move to make the KMT a pawn in its proxy warfare against Taiwan and the US. Since her inauguration as KMT chair last year, Cheng, widely seen as a pro-China figure, has made no secret of her desire to interact with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and meet with Xi, naming it a
A delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials led by Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is to travel to China tomorrow for a six-day visit to Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing, which might end with a meeting between Cheng and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). The trip was announced by Xinhua news agency on Monday last week, which cited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Song Tao (宋濤) as saying that Cheng has repeatedly expressed willingness to visit China, and that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and Xi have extended an invitation. Although some people have been speculating about a potential Xi-Cheng
The ongoing Iran conflict is putting Taiwan’s energy fragility on full display — the island of 23 million people, home to the world’s most advanced semiconductor manufacturing, is highly dependent on imported oil and gas, especially that from the Middle East. In 2025, 69.6 percent of Taiwan’s crude oil and 38.7 percent of liquified natural gas were sourced from the Middle East. In the same year, 62 percent of crude oil and 34 percent of LNG to Taiwan went through the Strait of Hormuz. Taiwan’s state-run oil company CPC Corp’s benchmark crude oil price (70 percent Dubai, 30 percent Brent)
RSS