More and more, media outlets that toe the
official line are rewarded with ad placements, while those that refuse to do so
are punished by the denial of such revenue
If you want to know how the nexus of big
money, corporations, and China intends to elbow out the free press in Taiwan,
you need look no further than the front pages of Monday’s major
Chinese-language dailies.
The contrast could not be more evident. On
one side you find the Liberty Times and the Apple Daily; the former is
associated with the “green camp,” while the latter is for the most part
“colorless” and regards everybody as fair game for criticism.
The Aug. 19 front page of the Apple Daily
is entirely dedicated to the events from the night before, starting with the
large protest on Ketagalan Blvd against forced evictions and the subsequent
occupation of the Ministry of the Interior building. The Apple Daily
complements its front page with a total of nine pictures of the events. None of
this is surprising, as of all the major Chinese-language dailies in Taiwan, the
Apple Daily has by far had the most sustained and in-dept coverage of the
months-long series of protests.
For its part, the Liberty Times dedicates a
little less than half its front page to the protests, accompanied by two
pictures. Despite the space given on the front page, activists have been rather
critical of the Liberty Times’ coverage of the protests over the weeks, which
we can partly explain by the fact that the owner of the Liberty Times Group is
also a major land developer.
The two other main dailies, the United
Daily News and the China Times, tell a very different story. In fact, they tell
no story at all, as the front pages of both carry a full-page ad by Chanel.
There is nothing surprising here, as both publications have repeatedly
downplayed, if not altogether ignored, the protests on land issues, and both
are close to big business, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and China.
In a free society with a free press, what
editors put on the front page is for them to decide, and we can assume that
those decisions reflect the preferences of the audience that pays for the
product. But there is something else, something far more worrying, about
Taiwan’s media divide — advertising revenue.
More and more, and as China exerts its
influence on Taiwan’s media environment, revenue will be an important factor in
the viability of news organizations. Media outlets that toe the
corporate/government/China line will be rewarded with ad placements, while
those that refuse to do so will be punished by the denial of such revenue. Over
time, the impact on the media environment could be severe, with outlets that
continue to regard the press as an instrument by which to speak truth to power
see their advertising revenue dry out, while those that choose to engage in an
complicit relationship with the powers that be, or that self-censor for the
benefit of the rich and the powerful, are showered with highly profitable ad
placements. The greater Taiwan’s financial dependence on China, the more
serious will the revenue crisis become within the media industry, and
consequently, the greater the pressure will be on editors to avoid
“problematic” news articles.
Yes, in this day and age, this is a problem
that media organizations all over the world are facing. But in Taiwan’s case,
there is an additional (external) variable, and that is China’s desire to
eradicate Taiwan’s democratic way of life, and along with it its free press.
(Photo by the author)
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