According to reports published by several media watchdog organizations, children and teenagers are apt to be exposed to too many pornographic sites as a result of the indifference of main Internet portals in Taiwan.
Four separate surveys for media performance published yesterday were sponsored by Taiwan Advertisers' Association (TAA) and respectively conducted by End Child Prostitution Association of Taiwan (ECPAT), on Internet pornography; the Taiwan Association of University Professors (TAUP), on inaccurate newspaper reports, and the Mothers Foundation for Media Watch (MFMW), on inappropriate TV shows.
ECPAT's survey put its focus on pornography on the local Web domain, which is full of porno messages and post, according to the group.
"We realize that most elementary and junior high school students usually explore the Internet through main portals like Yahoo! Taiwan, Yam.com and PChome," said Lee Li-feng (
"However, we have also found that there are lots of community or discussion groups affiliated with these portals full of obscene photos or messages," Lee said.
"Portal webmasters just think they are the most popular ones and make links to them on the first page, making them much accessible to young Web surfers," Lee said.
"Some people even posted messages asking for enjokosai,'" said Lee, referred to a term literally means "assisted relationships," a Japanese term meaning sexual services provided by teenage girls in exchange for money or valuables.
Webmasters and group moderators should be more responsible, she added. "They should omit or filter out indecent photos and messages actively."
"The Children and Juveniles Welfare Law (兒童及少年福利法) was enacted June 1. It regulates that publications, including those on the Web, should be classified and graded," Lee said.
"Portal webmasters should realize what they face are not only moral problems, but also law problems," she said.
Porno threats not only exist on the Web, but also in TV variety programs, said Fang Dee (
"A lot of TV shows are characterized with foul language, sexually-suggestive jokes, violence, intrusion on privacy and bias," Fang said.
"Our survey shows the three oldest TV broadcasting stations, TTV, CTV and CTS, have the most indecent variety shows not appropriate for the young audience," Fang added.
TV show producers and hosts always argue that only being melodramatic can give them better average audience ratings, said Fang, "but our study shows that it's is not the more vulgar or erotic you are, the more popular your programs will be."
Newspaper reports are less criticized for pornography, but more for inaccurate, biased reports and spun stories.
"The leading newspapers in Taiwan produce a lot of stories that are incorrect, exaggerated and contain political-bias," said Yu Ying-fu (尤英夫), attorney at law at the Century International Law Office.
"Journalists should report the truth, not just write down everything they're told," Yu said.
"But there are many `source say' stories that are unbalanced that put on the first page, which at last prove to be wrong accusations from politicians," Yu said.
On a quest for better quality in media reports in Taiwan, TAA, an association founded two years ago by 35 enterprises -- including Proctor & Gamble Taiwan -- has tried to expand its influence on this issue.
"We sponsor reports regarding the performance of local media, and our members have tried to get our advice on where they should publish their ads," said Helen Wang (王彩雲), secretary general of TAA.
"Advertisement is our best weapon if we want to improve the quality of news reports," she said.
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