Programmers of political talk television shows are facing pressure from consumer groups to improve the quality of their shows.
A group of consumers launched a campaign to demand that advertisers withdraw running TV commercials in the so called "spat talk shows" by boycotting their advertised products.
Starting in May, a number of consumers posted a notice on Web sites such as Taiwan Tea Party and a media-watching group "Against the Media" to urge consumers to boycott products advertised on the debate talk shows and call-in shows in a bid to push the program producers to cancel the shows.
Participants in the campaign expressed their anger on-line saying that there was too much provocative sentiment expressed by talk show hosts and guest speakers -- especially confrontations between pan-blue and pan-green camps -- that the programs were destructive of the quality of the nation's media.
Talk shows produced by cable TV station TVBS' News Night Club hosted by Lee Yen-chiou (
TV hosts of the above-mentioned shows are known for their anti-DPP sentiment or pro-unification stance.
"By organizing the campaign to call consumers to boycott products advertised on these programs, we hope to cut the financial sources of these malicious programs so as to ensure the TV audience's rights for quality TV programs," the initiator of the campaign said.
Other participants in the activity claimed the campaign was an affirmation of Taiwan's civil awareness as the audience is beginning to understand that the TV shows should be free of political interference.
Activity initiators sent e-mails to advertisers in the programs, demanding that they revoke their advertising budgets from the programs.
As of yesterday, several companies had given positive responses to the calls for boycotting "spat programs" including I-Mei Foods Co, Brand's chicken essence, RT-Mart and Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Company, which had decided to withdraw their advertisements from the News Night Club.
For example, RT-Mart had replied to the campaign by saying it had decided to cancel all of its scheduled advertisements on the News Night Club starting from June 6, and will delegate its advertising company to review the TV show's ratings so as to adjust advertisement budget allocations.
Hu Yu-wei (
The campaign reflected that the talk shows were too narrow in selecting their topics as political subjects were overly concentrated, Hu said.
"Public policy issues are as important as political issues. It may be because discussion for public policy is not provocative enough that such issues are rarely discussed," Hu said.
Hsu said that guest speakers invited to the shows were usually lawmakers representing political parties or party officials. The guests are more often more concerned about defending the party line rather than the merits and flaws of the issue, he said.
"These discussions can be very confrontational, but the programs are not conducive to educating people about controversial issues at all," Hu said.
In addition, the repetition of the same invited guest speakers is so high that the audience always sees the same faces engaging in intense debates with rival politicians, a phenomenon that would drive away those who could otherwise offer constructive suggestions to the issue, Hu said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS