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EDITROAIL: Media must
be forum for debate
An inordinate amount of recent incidents have put the public in direct conflict
with the government. People’s irrepressible anger has spread out onto the
streets, with people demonstrating against government ministers. Meanwhile, the
government, unwilling to talk to the public and fearful of the protests, has
mobilized the police to cordon off places where senior government officials go,
taking a heavy-handed approach to the protesters, which only exacerbates the
situation. Tensions are mounting, and some people are concerned the specter of
the Martial Law era is once more among us.
None of the controversies over the recent forced demolitions — in Miaoli
County’s Dapu Borough (大埔), Taipei’s Wenlin Yuan (文林苑) urban renewal project and
Huaguang Community (華光) — needed to have the outcomes they did. The main reason
for the stalemate was the public street protests, and the government’s arrogance
and lack of willingness to communicate, but there were other factors involved,
too, not least the media’s failure to fulfill its role as a proper forum for
public debate.
This last issue contributed to a paralysis, making the resolution of these
issues impossible.
Over the past few years the media has given the impression of being vital and
vigorous, but it has also displayed a peculiar failure in the field of public
affairs. The dozens of Taiwanese newspapers out there, about 100 TV channels and
hundreds of magazines, all provide prodigious amounts of information, yet the
information is so fragmented that the media is failing to fulfill its remit of
keeping tabs on the government and corporate groups.
The mass media does focus attention on important issues. The needless death of
army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘) would never have got the attention it has
without sustained media coverage, and it is doubtful that without this coverage
the Ministry of National Defense nor the president would have apologized.
However, when the media storm subsides, another story will come along, and the
media will just forget and move on. Also, the public receives only a
fragmentary, mosaic-like picture of an issue: it is not given the whole picture,
and for this reason it is difficult for people to truly engage in an issue, or
to usefully debate it.
The media seems incapable of presenting expert or systematic analysis, and
reports are becoming increasingly disparate and unconnected. Thus, Staff
Sergeant Fan Tso-hsien (范佐憲), questioned as part of Hung’s case, is painted as
the devil incarnate, who dabbles in fast motorcycles, owns an expensive car and
earns huge amounts of cash — and is there a mistress? Meanwhile, Staff Sergeant
Chen Yi-hsun (陳毅勳) is cast as the blue-eyed boy from next door. Neither of these
character caricatures have anything to do with the actual case, and yet they are
splashed over front pages and TV screens. TV anchors are continuously talking
about the case, but it is cobbled-together, illogical conjecture that only
serves to confuse the audience and divert attention from human rights reform.
News comes in waves, one story after the other, and we rely on the media to
provide us information. What the media chooses to focus upon at any given time
informs our understanding of that issue. However, when it chooses to regard an
issue as having run its course, we no longer see it on our screens, while in
real life the story continues to unfold and affect society, albeit drowned out
by the noise of the next story breaking. Therefore, even after the Dapu
demolitions, non governmental organizations have remained involved, to make sure
the injustice of the act is not easily forgotten.
The media’s failure to maintain focus on these issues is a dereliction of duty.
With ineffectual media oversight, society becomes indifferent to what is going
on and unjust forces can continue to work in the background, unchallenged.
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