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Low media standards undermine credibility

The Foundation for the Advancement of Media Excellence (新聞公害防治基金會, FAME) recently released a report indicating that local news organizations make excessive use of unnamed sources. Errors of fact or heavy bias in reporting misled readers and were not beneficial to rational public discussion of issues, it said. These actions, the report said, have damaged the credibility of media organizations and are not in the least beneficial to reviving the fortunes of the nation's newspaper sector.

The foundation's most recent study was based on an analysis of news reports on two stories: one on the temporary bridge at the Hsuehshan Tunnel constructed for an inspection tour of the project by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in August, and the other was the annual human rights award the US Congressional Human Rights Caucus gave to Chen in September, when he was visiting the US.

Five criteria were applied in the analysis: sources, fact checking, balanced reporting, composition and media responsibility. This was the 12th such study conducted by the foundation in the three years since it was founded.

The newspaper that fared best in the study was the Taiwan Daily, which maintained a reasonable level in all five categories. It was followed by the Liberty Times and the United Evening News, which also performed reasonably well. The two newspapers which performed worst were the United Daily News and the Apple Daily. The Apple Daily has repeatedly taken last place in the foundation's studies, a clear indication that despite its strong distribution figures, its reporting a simply not up to standard.

Vagueness in attributing information was a fault found in almost all the newspapers. In order to boost sales, newspapers now favor investigative reports, but they lack stringent requirements for checking facts, and stories often degenerate into purely fabricated accusations that infringe on human rights and cause grievous damage to the reputation of individuals. Moreover, the media easily lends itself to being used as a channel for the broadcasting of rumors by people with their own agendas, with the result that its credibility has been seriously undermined.

The editor's handbook circulated by the New York Times states that the best source is one that can be attributed by name. It strictly regulates the use of sources that cannot be named, and apart from demanding that facts be carefully checked, any statements that seem accusatory or biased, personal attacks and derogatory terms, are all given close scrutiny and often removed.

A false report by the BBC at the beginning of last year using an unnamed source led to the resignation of the broadcaster's chairman. The newspaper with the largest circulation in the US, USA Today, also published a false report based on an unnamed source last year, which led to a change of the paper's chief editor. A Newsweek report about the desecration of the Koran at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility led to a number of deaths, and after the report was retracted the magazine adopted even more stringent guidelines in regard to stories based on anonymous sources.

While Taiwan's media have gotten a taste for investigative journalism, they have not learned to apply professional ethics. Instead, they have turned their back on the principles of truth and fair presentation in their reporting. Only if a report is based on fact and has undergone rigorous checking can it be considered responsible journalism. As A.M. Rosenthal, a former chief editor of the New York Times, once said, news is not a license to lie and cheat.

Lu Shih-hsiang is the CEO of the Foundation for the Advancement of Media Excellence.

Translated by Ian Bartholomew
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