Taiwanese and Chinese media outlets should be allowed to open offices in each other’s territory and to station reporters there for extended periods, several Taiwanese media heads said yesterday at a forum in Tianjin, China.
The media figures, including Central News Agency chairman Chen Kuo-hsiang (陳國祥) and Chinese-language Want Daily president Huang Ching-lung (黃清龍), also pushed for the further opening of cross-strait media markets to promote mutual understanding between the two sides.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Fan Liqing (范麗青) agreed, saying the office hoped to promote the idea because the current practice of constantly rotating reporters — usually for three months at a time — was not favorable to in-depth reporting and long-term observation.
That is why journalists from both sides are urging media outlets to set up offices and station reporters for longer periods on either side of the Taiwan Strait, Fan said.
“The Taiwan Affairs Office has made efforts in this regard, and we’re hoping that we can make strides forward,” Fan said.
Huang said that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait still had no access to TV programs or newspapers from the other side, and “this has been unfavorable to cross-strait media exchanges.”
However, Chen said that under the current policy, it might not be practical to ask that Taiwanese news media be published in China and suggested that a more feasible approach would be to have Taiwanese and Chinese outlets jointly run media operations, starting with e-media.
With the two sides co-funding and co-managing the media, this would enhance bilateral understanding, build up mutual recognition and be conducive to peaceful development on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Chen said.
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