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Retired reporter to launch media watchdog group

With an aim to pressure local media to be more professional, a retired reporter is setting up a media watchdog foundation.

The organization will be the first media watchdog foundation to be set up by a media professional in Taiwan. It will also be the first such association to take legal action against media outlets it believes have acted inappropriately.

"The performance of Taiwan's news organizations has seriously damaged society. We would force media organizations to run corrections of their reports when they make mistakes, and we would go so far as to file lawsuits should they refuse to do so," said Lu Shih-xiang (盧世祥), the founder of the Foundation for the Prevention of Public Damage by the Media (新聞公害防治基金會).

Lu is a retired editor in chief of the Economic Daily.

Lu said one of the group's goals would be to educate the public about the media and also about how to protect their rights when it comes to libel and defamation.

"As a former editor in chief, I know news organizations would be much more careful about their reports if faced with the pressure of law suits if they run false reports," Lu said.

There are currently five main media watchdog foundations in Taiwan: the Taiwan Media Watch Foundation, the Association of Taiwan Journalists, the Mothers' Media Watch Foundation, the National Press Council of the ROC and the Television Culture Research Committee.

"A successful social movement always needs help from the media. But the movement of improving the news media's performance has lacked this crucial element," said Lin Chao-chen (林照真), a senior reporter who has also been involved with campaigns for fair reporting.

Ho Jung-hsing (何榮幸), the former executive editor of Media Watch, said that the new foundation's aggressiveness to raise journalistic standards could open another window for the responsible reporting movement, but said that there is still much work to be done.

"The problems of Taiwan's news media organizations are serious, and they can't be solved by a couple of media watchdog foundations' efforts," Ho said.

According to government regulations, in order to register as a foundation and gain non-profit status, a group has to have NT$10 million in funds. Lu said he expects to reach that goal by July.
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