Watchdog barks about candidates' ties to the media

Candidates for public office with ties to the media should quit their day jobs, the Taiwan Media Watch Foundation said yesterday.

The idea is to maintain the appearance of impartiality, the foundation said at a press conference yesterday.

"In Taiwan, politics and the media industry have a very close relationship with each other," said Jerry Fan (范可欽), a former image consultant for President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and the organizer of yesterday's press conference.

"Anybody can easily see that, because a lot of candidates are currently in [the media] business," Fan said.

Among this year's legislative hopefuls, nine are tied to media outlets such as TV stations, radio stations, communication companies or newspapers.

They are DPP lawmakers Hsu Jung-shu (許榮淑), Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮), Chang Chun-hung (張俊宏), independent lawmaker Tsai Hao (蔡豪), KMT lawmaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), New Party candidate Joanna Lei (雷倩), and independent candidates Chou Chuan (周荃), Sisy Chen (陳文茜) and Lin Kuan-hei (林崑海).

He Te-feng (賀德芬), president of the Taiwan Media Watch Foundation, said the group has urged the legislature to amend the Political Party Law so the government has the power to ask politicians to stay away from the media business.

"For example, we could ask all media-related candidates to quit their jobs once they decide to devote themselves as public servants, if the law were available," He said.

But in the absence of any law, He said, "we can only suggest that they do so."

He said that the foundation has campaigned for changes to the Political Party Law for a long time, but to no avail.

Cheng Hung-yi (鄭弘儀), a business journalist who hosts two TV news programs as well as a radio show, said it was very difficult for the media to stay completely neutral when it comes to politics.

The lack of objectivity is common to all reporters, not just those with overt political ambitions, he said.

"It's almost impossible for a journalist to [be neutral] because we all have friends from different political parties," Cheng said.

Cheng said journalists attempt to remain objective by providing balance and equal time to differing views.

Chin Heng-hei (金恆煒), editor in chief of Contemporary Monthly, opposes a change to the law, saying that "politics and media" co-exist and it will remain that way.

"Every single station or newspaper has its own policy and opinion toward politics, which is a good thing. That's an important function of a democratic society which we shouldn't change," Chin said.

"However, more and more politicians think they can rule the world with their own political ideas when they are hosting their shows. That's what we should worry about."