How best to stand up to the authoritarian bully next door? For many young Taiwanese, the answer seems to be humor. Political satire, including spoof news YouTube channel EyeCTV, is rapidly gaining traction online. Their preferred targets: China and Taiwan’s uncertain international status. “Reporting from the Free Taiwan Area on the red bandits’ policies affecting…
By Courtney Donovan Smith April Marks End to Zero-COVID Policy Locally transmitted cases in Taiwan have been rising exponentially since early April, as the Omicron variant began spreading across the island. Recognizing the variant’s infectiousness, the economic costs of the zero-COVID approach, and that almost all reported cases have been mild or asymptomatic, the government…
The launch of Taiwan+ in late August attracted the attention of many observers, some of whom praised the platform for its sharply produced and well-reported content. Yet concerns remain over whether a state-funded media outlet can be a truly objective source of news and information on Taiwan. Britain has the BBC; the U.S. has NPR,…
A weekly snapshot of Taiwan business news stories brought to you by CommonWealth and AmCham Taiwan’s TOPICS Taiwan Down 93,000 Jobs in June The Directorate-General of Budgeting, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) announced on August 8 that the number of people employed in Taiwan’s industrial and service sectors at the end of June had fallen to…
A more hostile environment for journalists and NGOs in China and Hong Kong could make Taiwan an ideal location to open regional bureaus and offices. Taiwan is arguably one of the world’s most misunderstood places. Even major media corporations often get it wrong. For example, last December U.S.-based ABC News mistakenly referred to Tsai Ing-wen…
Taiwan is seeking to fight back against fake news with stricter new legislation, media-literacy education, and fact-checking mechanisms. When President Tsai Ing-wen last year was in an armored car visiting areas in southern Taiwan affected by flooding, a Facebook fan page devoted to news accused Tsai of feeling contempt for the victims. The evidence offered was…
The legislature is expected to loosen the current restrictions on media shareholding by government or political entities. BY TIMOTHY FERRY AND DON SHAPIRO The Legislative Yuan is currently considering draft amendments to Taiwan’s three primary media laws that would allow limited investment in electronic media operations by government, political parties, and the military. Current regulations…
US$3b Infrastructure Spend Clears First Reading The budget for the Tsai administration’s US$3.29 billion first phase of a major infrastructure project passed an initial reading in Taiwan’s parliament this week. The passage of the legislation for the so-called “forward-looking infrastructure plan” was marred by physical clashes in the Legislative Yuan as opposition Kuomintang lawmakers tried…
As online media and streaming services continue to grow, the telecommunications industry requires further rate deregulation to remain competitive. In its position paper in the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei’s recently released 2017 Taiwan White Paper, the Chamber’s Telecommunications & Media Committee addressed this need for further deregulation by recommending the National Communications Commission…
The Taiwan media, once tightly controlled, is now considered the freest in the region. But much criticism is directed at the quality of the content, especially for television news, where competition among the seven all-news cable stations has led to an emphasis on sensationalist and often trivial stories, with scant international coverage. Amid public concern…
