The Control Yuan on Thursday accused TaiwanPlus, a government-funded English-language TV and streaming platform, of discriminating against broadcasters with a Taiwanese accent.
The platform denied the accusation.
The Control Yuan said in a statement that its Education and Cultural Affairs committee approved an investigative report into TaiwanPlus to be prepared by Control Yuan members Lin Yu-jung (林郁容), Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容) and Wang Mei-yu (王美玉).
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
TaiwanPlus, which is subsidized by the Ministry of Culture, was launched in 2021 with NT$5.8 billion (US$186.83 million) of government funding, and a mission to expand Taiwan’s external broadcasting ability and boost international connections, the report said.
However, its audience is regionally concentrated in Asia (67.6 percent) and North America (20.6 percent), with much lower viewership numbers in Europe, Oceania and other areas, the report said.
While TaiwanPlus’ viewership has grown, overall it has fallen short in its goals of promoting and expanding Taiwan’s international visibility, the report said.
Internally, TaiwanPlus’ news coverage is largely guided by foreign managers, whose grasp of Taiwanese society has limits, the Control Yuan said.
This has resulted in disagreements with Taiwanese editors over how to select and cover stories, creating inconsistent standards of judgement with regard to domestic and international events, it said.
The ministry should consider establishing an editorial framework with a “Taiwanese perspective” and increased participation from local news professionals, it said, citing risks of “editorial imbalance.”
Another section of the report said that TaiwanPlus’ news coverage had been “out of focus,” affecting the platform’s credibility and image.
It was likely referring to an incident in the run-up to last year’s US presidential election, in which a video journalist referred to then-candidate Donald Trump as a “convicted felon.”
The video was taken down following criticism from figures including the minister of culture, which sparked criticism about media freedom.
The Control Yuan said that although TaiwanPlus is primarily an English-language platform, it is intended to showcase Taiwan’s diverse culture and distinct linguistic features.
Witnesses interviewed by the Control Yuan said that there had been instances in which TaiwanPlus managers refused to put individuals in on-camera roles because they spoke English with a Taiwanese accent, the report said.
To exclude Taiwanese accents from its broadcasts not only contradicts the platform’s original intention of sharing “Taiwan’s perspective,” but also risks discriminating against Taiwanese talent, it said.
The Control Yuan members urged the ministry to review TaiwanPlus’ standards for hiring newscasters, with an eye to establishing linguistic diversity and safeguarding the rights of Taiwanese English-speaking talent.
TaiwanPlus said that its selection of news anchors and reporters is based on their professional communication skills and ability to be understood, rather than any accent preferences.
Several Taiwanese journalists have passed its voiceover review process and 70 percent of its anchors are Taiwanese, it said.
Since the channel’s launch, international viewership has accounted for 94 percent of its audience, TaiwanPlus said.
The primary sources of viewership are the US (47 percent), the Philippines (13 percent) and India (9 percent), it said.
Total views last year increased 98.7 percent from a year earlier, while total viewing hours rose by 95 percent, it added.
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