Academics and activists from a media-watchdog group yesterday called on the government to establish guidelines for members of Taiwan's media when they cover disasters.
A government official, Ho Nai-chi (何乃麒), deputy director of the Government Information Office's (GIO) Radio and Television Affairs Department, however, responded that "it is inappropriate for the government to prescribe the way in which the media does its job."
But Ho Tsung-yi (何宗懿), the executive officer of the Taiwan Media Watch Foundation, stressed that she would keep pushing the GIO to address the issue.
The foundation was holding a conference to review the media's coverage of the recent China Airlines crash and to consider ways in which the media could improve its coverage. The conference was attended by communications scholars, representatives of the GIO and the news departments of TV channels.
Hu Yu-wei (胡幼偉), a professor at National Taiwan Normal Univer-sity's Graduate Institute of Mass Communications, said that the establishment of guidelines for the media would be a more constructive approach than "condemning the media's performance all the time."
Any such guidelines should call for disasters to be reported from a variety of perspectives, with an emphasis on accuracy and humane behavior.
"The incident has provided an opportunity for social education. But, as we have seen, most of the reporters have abandoned the issue after a week's coverage and have switched their attention to the Justin Lin affair, "Hu said.
Aside from reporting the trauma of the families, the media could have informed the public about the aircraft and about what the government and airline companies have done to increase aviation security, but Taiwan's media had not done so, Hu said.
Footage of weeping, grief-stricken families has been broadcast repeatedly since the crash on May 25 and TV reporters have continued to question the families of victims about their emotions.
Chen Ching-ho (陳清河), a professor at National Chengchi University (政治大學) said that the government should take some of the responsibility for the media's conduct.
"The government has the responsibility to establish guidelines for the media in their coverage of disasters, especially after it allowed 13 stations to produce news programs, which created heavy competition," Chen said.
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Chang Jun-ming (張潤明), deputy manager of the Chinese Television System's news department, said that "the government seems to worry about incurring the media's wrath all the time and the officials just try to please the media by releasing as much information as they can during media frenzies," Chang said.
But Ho said that "the government simply cannot establish guidelines for reporting, nor ban reporters from the scene of incidents."
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