Reporters should band together at mass rallies to avoid beatings like the ones they received at the April 10 protest on Ketagalan Boulevard, members of the Association of Taiwan Journalists said yesterday.
"Although there are usually too many live-coverage reporters at these rallies, the overall organization and structure of these reporters is missing," association head Tony Liu (
"There are many ways reporters can distinguish themselves from the crowd. For instance, colored armed bands or vests could be distributed to reporters," he said.
Liu was speaking at a seminar yesterday organized by the association and conducted in light of the violent protests on April 10. The demonstration saw several television reporters attacked by angry rally participants.
Speakers at the seminar agreed that organizing on-site reporters might prevent them from being attacked.
Yang Chen-chuan (
"A reporter should use his own judgment to decide when a situation is getting out of hand and whether he needs to leave the scene," he said.
In chaotic situations, Yang said, it is difficult for reporters to remain calm and avoid making comments that might offend rally participants, adding that the relationship between reporters and protesters must be handled carefully.
"If someone in the crowd has heard you doing live reporting and does not like what you have said in your story, word about your alleged `untruthful' report will start to spread among the crowd. For the rest of the day, your entire crew will get harassed by rally participants," he said.
Yang added that some protesters monitored and even attempted to interfere with his live coverage on April 10.
"Some individuals would stand very close to me and watch every single word I said to the camera. Some even tried to give me directives about what to say in my report," he said.
Journalists said understanding a crowd's psychology is also a means to avoid getting hurt.
"Some demonstrators at the April 10 protest were not pleased with being called `violent participants,' saying the violence was carried out by a few extremists in the crowd," said Chen Hsiang-lan (
"They also felt that reporters had ignored the general sentiments of the crowd and were being very distant from them," she said.
Chen added that reporters should reflect on why they have been attacked as it might be due to poor diction in their coverage.
"The wording in live coverage should be precise and phrased with concern," she said.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS