Taiwan ranked 24th globally, first in East Asia and second in the Asia-Pacific region in this year’s World Press Freedom Index, released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, which is observed annually on May 3.
The nation’s global ranking moved up three places from the year before, but the improvement was largely due to declines elsewhere. The RSF warned that global press freedom is in a “difficult situation” for the first time since the index began, with 112 countries seeing their overall scores decline.
Taiwan “generally respects the principles of media freedom,” but it has one of the lowest levels of trust in media among democracies, with only a 33 percent trust rate, the RSF said, adding that “structural weaknesses of the Taiwanese media make them particularly vulnerable to disinformation attacks, especially by the Chinese government.”
Taiwan also maintained its status as a “free” county, with a score of 94, ranking sixth globally and second in Asia in the annual Freedom in the World report released by Freedom House in February. However, the organization warned of “the Chinese government’s efforts to influence policymaking, media and the democratic infrastructure.”
In sharp contrast, China ranked 178th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index and was rated “not free” in the Freedom in the World report, with a low score of nine.
Over the past few years, opposition parties in Taiwan have repeatedly disparaged the media in an attempt to undermine their credibility and last year even motioned to cut the entire budget for the state-owned Public Television Service. Many of their supporters also often criticized the media for “scrutinizing the opposition” when they should only “check” the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) last year called the DPP, prosecutors and the media a “trinity” working together against the opposition. Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) last year also criticized The Economist over an article about the KMT’s and the TPP’s efforts to expand legislative power and suggested that people get information from an online forum instead.
The opposition parties accuse the DPP of “politically persecuting” them and suppressing freedom of speech, with Huang earlier this year calling the government “green communists.” Chu this month even called President William Lai (賴清德) a dictator and drew a parallel between Lai’s government and the Nazis.
However, the RSF’s and the Freedom House’s reports show that Taiwan’s freedom and press freedom have been improving throughout the years. Structural weaknesses in local media, including political polarization, sensationalism and pursuit of profit might exist, and some outlets might be skewed by foreign interference — particularly from China, as some media groups rely on it for business and investment — but media outlets are being held accountable through several mechanisms and balancing each other by presenting diverse viewpoints and information, so people can still receive well-rounded perspectives on issues.
However, purposely undermining people’s trust in the media could be risky and would likely make them more vulnerable to disinformation, as people might turn to social media or content farm Web sites and get biased information.
The Chinese-language news site The Reporter a few years ago reported that several Facebook groups opposing the government were filled with reposts from content farms, with sources linked to China.
With China’s disinformation war attempting to sow discord in the nation, politicians who promote ignorance by weakening people’s trust in the news media for partisan gain are risking Taiwan’s hard-earned freedom and democracy. Media literacy education is critically needed to counter that threat.
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