Checking sources
The Taipei Times’ recent article by Yang Mien-chieh and William Hetherington, “Most Taiwanese encounter media disinformation: poll” [Feb. 20, page 2], shines a disturbingly bright light on an ever-present challenge in today’s ever-expanding communication world: that of easily identifying misleading or blatantly false information.
As chair of the Public Relations Society of America’s Board of Ethics and Professional Standards, I see as one of my committee’s ever-present challenges that of educating and reminding our members and the general public of the critical importance of communicating truth and fact, not distorted or deliberately manipulated rumors.
Thankfully, public relations and journalism professionals have access to professional organizations that have and actively promote ethical standards as a hallmark of their line of work. But there are, sadly, those who do not choose to act accordingly.
One of the forefathers of the public relations profession, Ivy Ledbetter Lee, stated this belief clearly in 1906 — more than 100 years ago: “Our plan is frankly, and openly, on behalf of business concerns and public institutions, to supply the press and public ... prompt and accurate information concerning subjects which it is of value and interest to the public to know about.”
Unfortunately, toward the end of the 20th century, a proliferation of non-traditional communication avenues emerged that made it possible for anyone and everyone to act as a “journalist” and communicate without supervisory oversight “the news.”
Unfortunately, as well, there are those communication outlets — radio, television, print — that are more concerned with financial success than with journalistic integrity. The challenge thus falls to the news consumer to verify information that they receive.
In addition, I must observe as a public relations professional now having taught future generations of communication pros for two decades that our education systems — particularly at the pre-college level — are not doing a very good job of helping young minds grasp the importance of verifying information that they receive.
Our future government and business leaders must be taught the fine art of “critical thinking,” asking: “Why am I being told this? Who has verified the accuracy of this information?” rather than blithely saying: “Oh, I saw it on television, so it must be true.”
The challenge is real. No longer can we say, as my grandmother was fond of replying confidently when I asked her where she got her information: “I heard it on the radio.” We must check and double-check what we read/see/hear. As I am fond of saying myself, caveat lector — “let the reader beware.”
Kirk Hazlett
adjunct professor, University of Tampa
In an article published in Newsweek on Monday last week, President William Lai (賴清德) challenged China to retake territories it lost to Russia in the 19th century rather than invade Taiwan. “If it is really for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn’t China take back Russia?” Lai asked, referring to territories lost in 1858 and 1860. The territories once made up the two flanks of northern Manchuria. Once ceded to Russia, they became part of the Russian far east. Claims since then have been made that China and Russia settled the disputes in the 1990s through the 2000s and that “China
China has successfully held its Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, with 53 of 55 countries from the African Union (AU) participating. The two countries that did not participate were Eswatini and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which have no diplomatic relations with China. Twenty-four leaders were reported to have participated. Despite African countries complaining about summit fatigue, with recent summits held with Russia, Italy, South Korea, the US and Indonesia, as well as Japan next month, they still turned up in large numbers in Beijing. China’s ability to attract most of the African leaders to a summit demonstrates that it is still being
Trips to the Kenting Peninsula in Pingtung County have dredged up a lot of public debate and furor, with many complaints about how expensive and unreasonable lodging is. Some people even call it a tourist “butchering ground.” Many local business owners stake claims to beach areas by setting up parasols and driving away people who do not rent them. The managing authority for the area — Kenting National Park — has long ignored the issue. Ultimately, this has affected the willingness of domestic travelers to go there, causing tourist numbers to plummet. In 2008, Taiwan opened the door to Chinese tourists and in
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Thursday was handcuffed and escorted by police to the Taipei Detention Center, after the Taipei District Court ordered that he be detained and held incommunicado for suspected corruption during his tenure as Taipei mayor. The ruling reversed an earlier decision by the same court on Monday last week that ordered Ko’s release without bail. That decision was appealed by prosecutors on Wednesday, leading the High Court to conclude that Ko had been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and it ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Video clips
RSS