More than 60 percent of staff losses at Taiwan’s major newspapers could be traced to the monopolization of online advertising by Google and Facebook, posing a threat to the nation’s media landscape and its democratic system that relies on the third estate, a journalism expert said.
In a research report released yesterday, National Taiwan University Graduate Institute of Journalism professor Lin Chao-chen (林照真) issued a “wake-up call” about the effects of online platforms on the nation’s news media.
Nearly 60 percent of traffic to newspapers’ online content goes through Google and Facebook, but the platforms do not pay for the right to display it, Lin wrote.
Photo: Bloomberg
The digital platforms therefore have a monopoly on advertising, which traditionally provides most of the publishers’ revenue, she added.
News media around the world have long clamored for a solution to the issue, saying that the current landscape traps them onto major platforms while denying them a chance to earn critical advertising revenue.
Legislative solutions to the issue have gained momentum in the past few years, with the EU in 2019 passing the European Copyright Directive, which requires platforms to pay publishers for content aggregated on their sites. Australia last year passed the New Media Bargaining Code, and Canada is expected to follow suit.
In response, Google has signed deals with hundreds of media companies, agreeing to pay for the right to display their news content.
In Taiwan, the issue has only just started to be discussed.
To investigate the effects digital platforms are having on the domestic news environment, Lin reviewed the nation’s three major Chinese-language newspapers: the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), United Daily News and the China Times.
Readers have developed new habits thanks to platform algorithms, which use news content to encourage people to spend more time on their sites to gather more data to sell to advertisers, she wrote.
Advertising volume — the amount of money spent on advertising and marketing efforts — in 1996 totaled NT$46 billion (US$1.55 billion), NT$11 billion of which was spent on newspapers, her research showed.
By 2020, overall ad volume rose to NT$60 billion, the majority of which, at NT$48.26 billion, was spent in online media, while newspapers collectively only made NT$1.1 billion, which Lin described as an “avalanche” of losses.
The newspapers’ Web sites attract up to 3 billion views annually, but 52 to 58 percent of them are still redirected from Google and — to a lesser extent — Facebook, she wrote.
Despite growth of 616 percent in online advertising on their sites, the cheaper price of digital ads means that a significant shortfall remains compared with traditional ads, she added.
The losses are directly reflected in dwindling staff and newspaper sizes, Lin said.
Her research found that over the past 25 years, the number of reporters and editors in newspapers’ local news divisions fell 62 percent from about 1,000 to only 324.
Newspaper sizes have also shrunk to about 20 pages from 30, with coverage of disadvantaged groups and local matters particularly affected, she said.
Overseas reporting has been devastated, with only two foreign correspondents left among the three newspapers from more than a dozen during their heyday, she said.
Without hiring a single editor or reporter, online platforms are able to present a variety of news to their users, whereas traditional media companies must hire staff to create content, she wrote.
As Taiwan’s news media weakens, so does its market for information and free speech, Lin said.
In the spirit of fairness, Taiwan should require platforms to pay for the news content they display, while publishers should negotiate with the platforms to find a solution, she added.
National Chengchi University College of Law professor Richard Wang (王立達) said that a special law tailored to address the relationship between digital platforms and news media is necessary.
Property rights need to be better defined to grant publishers the legal standing to require payment from platforms for content access, he added.
News media must also establish a channel of communication with the platforms to negotiate advertising profit sharing, he said.
An arbitration tribunal could also be created to impartially decide on terms in the event of a breakdown in negotiations, he added.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
RSS