When Premier Yu Shyi-kun announced late last year that the Government Information Office (GIO, 新聞局) had earmarked nearly NT$10 million in order to fund a new English-language news venture, both terrestrial and cable news networks jumped at the opportunity to produce the show.
In all, five major television-stations and one lesser-known communications company submitted bids to the GIO. The nearly NT$10 million prize in annual funding, however, was awarded to Chinese Television System (CTS, 中華電視公司), whose English language newscasts went to air at 11pm on Feb. 1.
"We received bids from both terrestrial and cable channels. It was felt, however, that because the areas in which certain cable channels can be received are somewhat limited, putting such a show on a terrestrial channel would enable us to reach a wider audience," explained Su Ruey-ren (蘇瑞仁), Director of the Department of Domestic Information (DDI, 國內新聞處).
PHOTO COURTESY OF FTV
CTS might have won the lucrative prize, but it was piped to the post by Formosa Television (FTV, 民視電視公司) and its English language newscast, which hit the airwaves at 11pm on Jan. 31.
And, as if two English language newscasts weren't enough, CTS and FTV will be joined by yet another company in early June, when the GIO puts the final touches to its plan to create an entire English language news channel. "It's still under internal review, but beginning sometime in June we hope to see an entire channel broadcasting both locally produced news programs as well news from CNN and the BBC," continued the DDI director. "The amount of funding such a venture will receive, however, has yet to be finalized."
All of which, if sufficient funds can be found, looks set to pave the way for a never-before-seen ratings war, a war in which locally produced English-language television newscasts battle it out for top honors.
PHOTO COURTESY OF FTV
Primarily aimed at informing the nation's non-Chinese speaking residents about events in Taiwan and doubling as a learning platform for non-native speakers, English-language newscasts are not new to Taiwan. The format is, however, one that has proven unsustainable. All previous attempts at beaming English-language television newscasts into Taiwan homes have floundered.
The nation got its first taste of English language television news in September 1994 when it woke up to China Television Company's (CTV, 中國電視公司) Good Morning, CTV News. A 30-minute combination of news, weather and traffic updates, the daily news show -- considered a "service" for the 600,000 foreign nationals estimated by CTV to be living in Taiwan in the mid-1990s -- was plagued with problems from the outset. Poor ratings, little advertising revenue and content that was no more than a mouthpiece for the then ruling KMT saw the show axed after only a year.
"The idea of the free press was a relatively new concept in Taiwan in the mid-1990s and management basically ordered the reporters/producers to give an inordinate amount of positive coverage of the KMT," recalled Ian Lamont, a writer and narrator for Good Morning, CTV News. "I think it was a good program, considering the limitations, but at the end of the day the numbers just weren't there and it became hard for CTV to justify the cost of the program."
In a joint venture with CNBCAsia, the then fledgling cable network, Eastern Multimedia Group (ETTV, 東森媒體事業群) began airing a 30-minute English news program in the early evenings in December 1997. Like its terrestrial predecessor, however, the show struggled with organizational and financial problems.
"The show was supposed to an hour long when the idea was first proposed, but we didn't have enough people, material or support," explained Halima Chen, the show's producer and editor. "CNBC Singapore never really got its act together and shortly after the show went on air, CNBCAsia downsized and we were all fired that April 1998."
It is hoped that with the GIO's funding of CTS's newscast, some healthy competition from FTV and the possibility of an entire English language network, the format will succeed and stand the test of time.
"We're aware that the format has failed in the past, but we believe that with the GIO's funding and the format we devised, we can make English language newscasts work this time," stated CTS producer, Ricky Ni (倪正中). "And of course, FTV's English news project has meant that there's added incentive to produce a quality show."
While the actual viewing figures for CTV's 1994 and ETTV's 1997 shows are now somewhat sketchy, the number of people tuning into CTS's and FTV's English--language newscasts in recent weeks have surpassed the figures initially expected of them, surprising many.
Both channels have recorded viewer ratings of between 0.2 and 0.3 percent of the population since going to air just over a month ago. CTS's weekend newscast has surpassed even this figure, and is watched by a staggering 0.8 percent of the population -- putting the show into the top 80 watched programs in Taiwan on any given weekend.
According Ni, the surprising popularity of both shows has little to do with native English speakers, but has a lot to do with the nation's passion for learning English, something that Taiwan's three English-language newspapers and sole English--language radio station learned a long time ago, but previous English newscasts neglected to take heed of.
"Although the show was produced with both Chinese and non-Chinese speaking audiences in mind, it wasn't designed as an English teaching tool," admitted Amber Chang, an executive producer with CTV's Good Morning, CTV News in 1994. "It was a newscast. Its main aim was to inform the non-Chinese speaking public about events in Taiwan."
Although doubling as an English-teaching platform is a GIO stipulation for CTS, FTV has chosen to follow suit and includes a two-and-a-half-minute English teaching segment in its weekly news show. All of this, of course, begs the question as to whether the shows are newscasts or English teaching programs.
"If you set out to produce a news program solely with foreigners in mind, you'd never make the ratings. It would be a complete waste of time and effort," admitted Ni. "Although we are a news program, our format has been designed to give foreign residents the day's news while at the same time teaching local people about the English language."
Which is something that Jeffrey Mindich, ICRT news director and co-host of FTV's English-language newscast, wholeheartedly agrees with. He remains a firm believer, however, that the show's priority should remain that of a newscast rather than a program aimed at language instruction.
"The show is primarily a newscast. Although we have an English instructional segment and have English subtitles, we've certainly not dumbed the news down in anyway," said Mindich. "These additions have simply made the program more accessible to local audiences in a manner that doesn't take away the show's news value."
While the nation's cable-news networks slug it out in a bloody ratings war driven by titillation and gore, there are no plans to fill English language news with car wrecks, suicide attempts and the endless stream of personal tragedy that, more often than not, passes for news in Taiwan.
CTS is contractually bound to avoid what the GIO's Su calls "bloody news," while FTV's English-language news department has simply set out to avoid sensationalism.
"Unlike CTS we haven't been told to avoid bloody news, but we reckon it's a good policy to adhere to," explained FTV deputy director, Chen Tsai (陳才). "After all, we cover the whole of Taiwan, so what relevance does a murder in Taipei have to someone who lives outside of the city? Obviously something like the recent Alishan train crash is news, but we'll leave individual tragedy to local cable news."
Viewing figures might prove that there is a market for English language television news at the moment, but general opinion is still pessimistic regarding the long-term sustainability of the programs.
"The ratings look pretty good at the moment, but I foresee a similar fate befalling whoever tries to make a daily English-language television newscast stand the test of time in Taiwan," said Lamont.
Ni believes the future of English-language television news is, however, in the hands of the politicians rather than the viewing public.
"The development of an English-language learning environment might be high on the agenda of the present Cabinet," admitted the CTS producer. "In a couple of years and with a possible change of government all this could change. Emphasis could shift, in which case good-night English language television news."
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