Media watchdog groups join hands to monitor content

A dozen media activists announced yesterday that they were forming an alliance to monitor TV shows to watch for programming that is unsuitable for minors.

The Taiwan Media Watch Foundation (台灣媒體觀察基金會) and 11 other social activist groups and foundations said they would set up an alliance to act as watchdog against what they consider to be indecent entertainment on TV.

He Te-feng (賀德芬), president of the foundation, explained the rationale behind the initiative: "Any government intervention in the operations of the media is unacceptable because freedom of the press is pivotal in a civilized society. But as the tendency toward indecency looms large in our local TV programming, to expect individual self-discipline on the part of the media is a difficult option.

"So the only feasible solution is to allow the public to use its voice to tell the media what they consider to be quality TV programs," she said.

A professor of law from National Taiwan University, He also said the purpose of the alliance was not to interfere with the freedom of the press. Instead, it will act as a channel through which public opinion on the content of TV shows can reach those who decide what is aired.

Lee Yen-chiu (李豔秋), secretary-general of the Young Generation Foundation (新生代社會福利事業基金會), said many parents and teachers have told her that they think TV shows with sexual innuendo are unacceptable.

"Many said that the situation has gone on far too long, but that they were powerless to get their message to the management of the stations," said Lee, who is also a well-known TV news anchor.

She also voiced her wishes as a mother: "Nobody wants to get a phone call from your son's teacher telling you that he lifted a girl's skirt at school, only to have him defend his actions by saying that he was just copying what he saw on TV."

Based on her 10-year research on the relationship between children's behavior and TV programs in Taiwan, Sofia T Wu (吳翠珍), an observer of the media from National Chengchi University said that the influence of TV on young people was undeniable.

"My research has shown that children in Taiwan watch an average of 1,000 programs every year. And these often teach children values, concepts and information that contradict what they are taught in school," Wu said.

Wu said the alliance was not to encourage a single cultural value, but "to forge a dialogue between viewers and those who produce the programs."

The alliance will be formally established either at the end of this month or at the beginning of July, He said. Current members of the alliance include groups such as the Taiwan Media Watch Foundation, the Young Generation Foundation, the Child Welfare League Foundation (兒童福利聯盟), and the National Teachers' Association, ROC (中華民國全國教師會).