Western news outlets are increasingly turning to Chinese nationals sympathetic to the Chinese government for reporting in the region amid a sharp decline in the number of foreign journalists in Taiwan, industry figures said yesterday, adding that such developments are leading to either skewed coverage or little to no coverage at all of Taiwan by Western media.
A recent string of allegedly biased reports on Taiwan by such big-name Western media organizations as CNN, The Associated Press (AP) and the Economist have sparked an outcry from all quarters. That reporting was again attacked by media figures yesterday at a forum hosted by the Broadcasting Development Fund, a private media watchdog known for its pro-pan-green-camp views.
"Lee Ming [李閩] is Hong Kong Chinese," said fund director Connie Lin (
"Lee may have studied or even grown up in the US, but he obviously harbors biases in his reporting that favor Beijing," she said.
Lee's reporting underscores the consequences of a swelling legion of Chinese journalists in Western news outlets who churn out pro-Beijing articles, she added.
A Japanese national once blacklisted by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government while working as a Kyoto News reporter, Sakai Toru -- now a freelance writer based in Taipei -- questioned Western media's motives in consistently reporting news on Taiwan from Beijing's perspective.
"Why don't the Western media report on US President George W. Bush from a Middle Eastern perspective? -- such as `The leader widely known as the scum of the world made a surprise visit to Iraq yesterday.' Or why, when reporting on Chinese President Hu Jintao [胡錦濤], can't Hu be referred to according to his ranking as the world's fourth-worst dictator?" Sakai said.
`Scum of the Nation'
Paul Tsai (
"The article isn't in keeping [with an otherwise acceptable track record]," Lu said of AP.
Panelists also lamented what they called a steady drain of foreign journalists from Taiwan, saying that while China's view on the country dominates Western coverage of cross-strait affairs, fewer foreign journalists are sticking around to report from Taipei's perspective.
"There are only 20 to 30 foreign journalists here now," Tsai said.
Speaking to the Taipei Times by phone yesterday, Taipei Foreign Correspondents' Club president Kathrin Hille said that although major Western news publications are no longer dispatching as many "staffers" to the country, "I don't think the total number of [foreign journalists] has declined. That always happens in news markets that matter less," she said of the thinning ranks of permanent correspondents from big-name media organizations. "Look, news is a market -- media serve to give their audiences what they think they're interested in and right now, everybody's interested in China," Hille said.
Pragmatic
"There's a need for people to read what you write and getting into a story from the China angle helps to ensure that," she added. "Taiwan's significance is declining."
"But, in a way, that's a good thing -- that means no disasters are coming out of this place," she said.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
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UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
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