Taipei Times: Could you talk about your background and previous work experience before you joined the Broadcasting Development Foundation?
Connie Lin (林育卉): I come from a business family, so many business and marketing concepts I acquired when I was younger influence my thinking today. I have studied in the US and France, and these experiences too have strongly affected on me. I am part of the second Taiwanese generation of a Mainlander family, but my maternal family is Hoklo with a strong Japanese influence. With my Mainlander, Hoklo, Japanese and Western background, my thinking is certainly well-rounded.
In the past, I have worked for my family's business and have taken charge of some projects, and I also worked as chief secretary for former China Airlines president Christine Tsung (宗才怡), as well as serving as a staff member at the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Due to my Mainlander background, when I heard about the establishment of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) Department of Ethnic Affairs, I realized the DPP was focusing on ethnic balance, and therefore I worked with this department for two months.
TT: Being a CEO at such a young age, do you have any thoughts about being young and capable?
Lin: I was born in 1971. There had been talk that the BDF had previously been led by older people. In the past, the BDF had only had one CEO who was not a GIO officer. Before that, the GIO director-general acted as the BDF's president and the GIO deputy director-general acted as the CEO.
Thus the CEO position had not been highly regarded. If I excel in my job, my experience will not only be to my advantage, but will also encourage the younger generation.
Taiwan's political environment and social structure emphasize age, unlike other countries where one is judged by capability and efficiency. Since last year, I have achieved quite a lot of accomplishments, which provides evidence to others that they should give young people better work opportunities and have faith that they have great potential to perform in demanding jobs.
When I started my CEO job, the BDF's president, Lu Shih-hsiang (盧世祥), provided me with valuable professional advice. This is unlike the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or the People First Party (PFP), where the hierarchies are based on age. If I wished to wait for an opportunity with such groups, it might haven taken ages.
TT: How and why did you join the Gao-Seng-Lang Association for Taiwan Independence (GATI)?
Lin: Back in 1998, when I had just returned to Taiwan from my studies abroad, I met Liao Chung-shan (廖中山), who asked me to help host a radio program for GATI, and I did this. However, I had several annual commitments abroad and asked Liao to cover the program for me during these travels.
In 1999, I heard Liao had health problems, and out of respect for him I was more involved with GATI from then until 2000 and became an executive member.
At GATI, I became acquainted with Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟), a former Presidential Office secre-tary-general), who was then the president of GATI. Chen's scholarly ideas and lack of interest in power inspired me greatly.
TT : As a Media Monitor Alliance spokeswoman, you have been incisive and sometimes blunt in your speeches. How do you handle the stress that comes with your job?
Lin: When I was studying public relations, I read a lot of books on the topic of being a spokesperson. To me, a successful spokesperson is able to focus her or his speech on the issue being addressed, and avoids being caught up in emotional reactions.
Several ideologies that are compatible with my faith are what keep me going. Although I am in no position to manipulate others, I hope my ideologies are rational ones that are supported by the majority of the people, and that I am able to persuade others to climb on the bandwagon. What we are doing is a social movement, and it is similar to the concept of doing religious ministry.
TT: As the alliance is a relatively new organization, how do you see its role changing in the future?
Lin: In order to stay humble, we refer to what we do as "observing the media," but I would say what we do in fact is to monitor the media. In Taiwan it is common to use adjectives or impressions to support generalizations. We make sure that before we take any ideas or claims to the public, we have substantial evidence to back up our claims.
Before we take on a certain media agency, we first follow a strict set of procedures, such as receiving complaints from the public, conducting research or monitoring the issue. Once we have the actual evidence on hand, we will request that particular news organization to change their procedures to make an improvement on the issue.
If the agency fails to do so, then we will take the issue to the public. In the recent case where certain news stations exaggerated ballot counts, according to my logic, all the negative repercussions, such as protest rallies, heart attacks and suicides had already transpired.
Therefore, our call for advertisers to cancel their ads on these news stations was a wake-up call to and a punishment of these stations. If the action of these news stations had resulted in such high social costs, then the public had every right to ask them for an apology, or if this is refused, to ask them to pay a price in return.
We do not consider the boycott either a good or long-term means of interaction; the message we want to convey to the media is that "someone is watching you and you should discipline yourself."
I have been asked by media representatives if I would reach a stage where I was outmatched by the opposition. Well, I am a very positive person and the answer is no.
If an issue that we have thrown out raises public concern, which leads to apologies and promises from news stations not to repeat their mistakes, I think what the alliance has been working for will have paid off. Our objective was not to punish, but to alter the circumstance and solve the problem.
TT: What do you feel about being targeted for attacks by politicians based on the alliance's actions?
Lin: To put it quite frankly, I think choosing me as the target for attack is the cheapest means of response for news media.
Personally, I think that every citizen should be active in public affairs, or should at least care about what is going on and should not stay indifferent. Only this way can society make progress, and individuals will not be isolated but instead motivated.
While others might question my previous experiences and participation, such as hosting President Chen Shui-bian's (
Political mudslingers pick me as their target to get what they want, thinking that I will be intimated by them, but unfortunately for them, I won't be.
Politicians use all sorts of excuses to defame anyone in my position. Of course, personal defamation is definitely an abnormal phenomenon, as politicians should be the ones setting examples for the rest of society by showing the public how not to avoid the real issue when dealing with a controversy.
Normally, when controversies arise, public discussions and forums will take place, and this will lead to social progress. However, what is happening now is that politicians put a political label on you first.
If other social groups face similar situations, they will be able to draw conclusions from my personal experiences and know that staying steadfast is the foremost punishment one can deliver to one's rivals.
TT: Why do you think that the quality of Taiwanese media has become so poor?
Lin: I think as regards the news, the remnant effects of dictatorship passed down from the old government still exist.
High-ranking media supervisors and those who sit at the copy desks are still affected by such ideology. Taiwan's media density is probably the highest in the world, so commercial competition among news agencies is fierce. Taiwanese media only know how to compete, and not how to cooperate.
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