Political polarization, self-censorship and indirect Chinese influence limit the diversity of opinions represented in Taiwan’s mainstream media, according to a new report from the US-based watchdog Freedom House.
The report, Freedom of the Press 2013, was released in Washington on Wednesday and generally gave Taiwan a high rating, but said that the legal environment had become slightly more restrictive over the past year.
“Taiwan’s media environment is one of the freest in Asia, with a vigorous and diverse press that reports aggressively on government policies and alleged official wrongdoing,” the report said.
However, during elections in January last year, observers noted the strong party affiliations of media outlets as evidenced by their preferential treatment of candidates, the report said.
“Attempts by tycoons with significant business interests in Taiwan and China to gain greater control of the media market during the year sparked protests from students, journalists and social activists who were concerned that press pluralism was gravely under threat,” the report said.
Nevertheless, Taiwan was judged to have a “free” press with an overall “freedom score” of 26 points, just one point less free than the previous year.
By way of comparison, Hong Kong was said to have only a “partly free” press, with Beijing’s interference intensifying.
China was said to have a “not free” press and to be home to “the world’s most sophisticated censorship apparatus.”
Of the 197 countries and territories assessed, a total of 63 (32 percent) were rated “free,” while 70 (36 percent) were rated “partly free” and 64 (32 percent) were rated “not free.”
The analysis found that less than 14 percent of the world’s inhabitants lived in countries with a free press, while 43 percent had a partly free press and 43 percent did not enjoy a free press.
Norway and Sweden were judged to have the world’s freest press, with Taiwan sharing 47th place with four other countries.
In a commentary on the report, Radio Free Asia said that it was “especially troubling” that there had been a noticeable decline in Hong Kong’s media environment, “which may be interpreted as a distressing indicator of things to come.”
Freedom House said when releasing the report that the percentage of the world’s population living in societies with a fully free press had fallen to its lowest in over a decade.
Reasons for the decline included the increasingly sophisticated repression of independent journalism and new media by authoritarian regimes, radical Islamists and organized crime groups.
“The overall decline is also a disturbing indicator of the state of democracy globally, and underlines the critical need for vigilance in promoting and protecting independent journalism,” Freedom House president David Kramer said.
The world’s eight worst-rated countries were Belarus, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
In these countries, citizens’ access to unbiased information was said to be severely limited and dissent was crushed through imprisonment, torture and other forms of repression.
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
BIG YEAR: The company said it would also release its A12 chip the same year to keep a ‘reliable stream of new silicon technologies’ flowing to its customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its newest A13 chip is to enter volume production in 2029 as the chipmaker seeks to hold onto its tech leadership and demand for next-generation chips used in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance-computing (HPC) and mobile applications. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, also unveiled its A12 chip at its annual technology symposium in Santa Clara, California. The A12 chip, which features TSMC’s super-power-rail technology to provide backside power delivery for AI and HPC applications, is also to enter volume production in 2029, a year after the scheduled release of the A14 chip. The technology moves
RSS