Sensing a deterioration in the media environment, as many as 84 percent of journalists want to leave their jobs, up from 64 percent just two years ago, according to a poll released yesterday.
The 1111 Jobs Bank surveyed journalists from Aug. 14 to Aug. 28 in advance of Reporters Day, which falls today. Out of 376 valid samples, 91 percent of TV reporters said they wanted to leave their jobs, compared with 87 percent of magazine reporters and 72 percent working for Internet media.
The survey said 85 percent of female reporters are considering switching jobs, compared with 81 percent of male reporters.
Why are they so fed up? A little over 44 percent said they were most troubled by "not being able to make an appointment with an interviewee," while 31.4 percent felt the profession had no future.
Almost one-third of reporters said that their stories are not as objective as they would like when they are published. For example, TV executives demand that reporters come up with stories within the shortest possible time, making it difficult for reporters to set up interviews with a source. The time pressure was unbearable, respondents said.
A majority of reporters felt they could not choose journalism as a lifelong career. A substantial number also complained that corporate "positions" influence how their stories are presented and what subjects are assigned.
Asked about their views on "rampant" paparazzi or "muckraking culture," few responded that these were positive things. More than 39 percent lamented that these reflected the "low quality" of Taiwan's media; 19.2 percent said that prying into others' privacy destroys social mores; and 17 percent said the practices hurt the ethical standards and integrity of the profession.
What were the advantages of being a reporter? More than 74 percent said it increased their knowledge, 55.3 percent said it built up connections, and 35.6 percent said they had a better grasp of current affairs and the "pulse of society" than other office workers.
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Residents have called on the Taipei City Government to reconsider its plan to demolish a four-decades-old pedestrian overpass near Daan Forest Park. The 42-year-old concrete and steel structure that serves as an elevated walkway over the intersection of Heping and Xinsheng roads is to be closed on Tuesday in preparation for demolition slated for completion by the end of the month. However, in recent days some local residents have been protesting the planned destruction of the intersection overpass that is rendered more poetically as “sky bridge” in Chinese. “This bridge carries the community’s collective memory,” said a man surnamed Chuang
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm earlier today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, in this year's Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am, the CWA said. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) with a 100km radius, it said. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA meteorologist Huang En-hung (黃恩宏) said. However, a more accurate forecast would be made on Wednesday, when Yinxing is