A Canadian public television broadcaster reminded the media yesterday that public interest must take precedence over political and commercial interests.
Tony Burman, editor-in-chief of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp's news and current affairs, was in Taipei to give a speech on public values in the media and ethics in news reporting.
Commenting on the current popularity of "rumor-based" stories that are often written or produced with little verification, Burman warned the local media to be extremely careful in handling this type of story.
Once a media organization publishes a story based on flimsy evidence, journalists tend to think that "it's [the news] already out there," and follow suit without further verifying the facts.
"Always have at least two sources," Burman said. "Be careful of stories where you have not verified the information and deal with it with care and openness."
"If you find that the news is only gossip and irrelevant to public interest, avoid going into it," he said.
Burman said that in many countries, including Taiwan, public television broadcasters are having difficulty maintaining their audience because of more popular commercial programming on private news channels.
The public also distrusts the media in general as some media organizations' credibility has been put into question and therefore "blackens us all," Burman said.
However, he said that viewers are still able to distinguish quality programs from the rest. At the end of the day, what the public wants are accuracy and credibility, not rumors.
Burman outlined several challenges for broadcasters, including protecting the integrity of news content in the face of growing political and commercial pressures and establishing credibility and trust with the public.
"A public broadcaster is not responsible to shareholders or advertisers, but only to the public," Burman said.
The public's trust in the media has declined over the years because they are no longer sure whether media organizations are serving their own interests or the public's, Burman added.
Broadcast management also have to ensure that the news content is free from all outside influence, except for feedback from the public, and be alert to insidious pressure from the government or politicians, he said.
"Credibility cannot be achieved overnight," Burman said. "But public broadcasters must conduct journalism in an open and accountable way."
The event was held by the Foundation for Excellent Journalism Award, an organization that awards various media organizations each year for ethical and professional reporting.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods