The Taipei City Government on July 9 decreed that, to implement its policy of digitization, from next year schools and other agencies and institutions under its authority are to no longer subscribe to print newspapers and magazines, and that if they still wish to subscribe to them, they must apply for the mayor’s approval to do so.
The ban is based on the mistaken idea that there is no need to spend money on subscriptions to newspapers and magazines in this day and age, when people can read full texts online and find a huge amount of information through Internet portals.
However, my experience working in a library gives me reason to have a different opinion.
Reading printed text on paper is a different process from browsing electronic media. Much has been written on this subject, and the difference can clearly be seen from the slower-than-expected acceptance of e-books in Taiwan.
Even if every student has a smartphone, paper is still much more powerful than electronic devices when it comes to acquiring knowledge from reading and getting absorbed in it.
Furthermore, when a teacher picks an issue as a study topic, especially one concerned with current affairs, students generally start out by reading a variety of newspapers to understand a range of different standpoints and approaches. This is a process of media literacy and civic study.
Only if the issue is too broad and complex, such as the controversy over the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement a few years ago, are students likely to turn to online media and print magazines that provide more in-depth reporting.
A still more important consideration is that online news outlets tend to use exaggerated headlines and sensational content as clickbait, which causes many people to only read the headline and not the article. This tends to encourage populism and make people vulnerable to manipulation.
When people read newspaper supplements, the content of which is mostly literary in nature, a physical newspaper that a reader can hold in their hands helps them focus their attention in a way that digital media cannot replace.
On the one hand, the city said it is implementing its digitization policy by not allowing its subordinate departments to subscribe to print newspapers and magazines, but on the other hand it spends loads of money on advertising to promote its policies and even to promote the image of its leaders.
City offices print reams of leaflets and pamphlets and distribute them all over the place, with little concern for how much they cost, so it is not really a question of saving paper or money.
The real reason for the subscription ban is that Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) does not read newspapers and magazines, and because he is a big official with a bunch of academic qualifications, teachers and students are being forced to follow suit.
Schools’ and government agencies’ newspaper and magazine subscriptions account for a small part of their budgets, so it is really not right for the city government to constrict information channels and restrict students’ and other people’s right to choose, all in the name of digitization.
Chang Hsun-ching is a former librarian.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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