February 5, 2005

B*R*B, Taipei, reporting


news at 8
Originally uploaded by dahongdou.



watching the local news in taiwan can make you a very cynical person.
while half of the blather that is reported on the literally DOZENS of 24-hour tv news stations is transparently (a)propaganda, (b)gossip, or (c)lacking any professional standard of journalism whatsoever, of the remainder, half is (d)often of no news-worthiness, and the rest (e)just makes you sick to your stomach (and mind).

a few examples:
(a) like the best of their american counterparts, the taiwanese media likes to get into the business of MAKING the political news as much as reporting it. while the notion of an independent media came up as a topic of discussion during the last elections, a number of legislators and political party leaders continued to play public roles in various outlets. while the general public has long been aware of the political affiliations of media companies, people like to believe whatever serves their beliefs, and the news is very obligatory. in the aftermath of a less-than-one-percent-majority "victory" tainted by accusations of a set-up assassination attempt, several outlets reported that a supposed expert discovered evidence of the conspiracy. the expert turned out to be a hardcore partisan who had recorded news coverage on a vcr and had watched the sparse footage repeatedly for a week.
recently, the mayor of taipei, ma ying-jeou, and other government officials were publicly indicted for a local hospital's failure to admit a girl who was beaten unconscious by her father. no one mentioned the father's culpability for weeks as the media called for the mayor's resignation.

(b) there is no boundary between the major news sources and the papparazzi in taiwan. reporters regular stalk celebrities and stakeout ktv joints and hostess bars. a few months ago, the leading story for 4 days involved a well known tv host and his two dates, and their drunken run-in with the cops. this was followed by 5 days of video grabs of the two girls' revealing clothes and slinky figures. next, another few days of investigative reporting on the rising popularity of lowriders and showing a little bit of crack. the wearers of these fashions are known literally as "butt gutter babes" 〔股溝妹〕.

(c) too many examples to list. for a start, see (a),(b),(d). on the other hand, as an organizer, it is nice to have reporters take your press releases as the entire basis of their reports.

(d) one from my annals: a family notified the news media when the couple next door continued to have outrageously loud sex every single night. their children were losing sleep. their grades, reportedly, slipping. worse are the leering camera shots of girls in bikinis: at car shows, after plastic surgery, serving milk tea, whatever.

(e) a lot of the stories make you wonder about the direction of this society as a whole. i often feel very sad and angry. tonight's program showed hidden camera footage of unlicensed nurses working in an unlicensed hospital beating a comatose patient. they also turned off his oxygen. he first went into the "hospital" for an unrelated condition. this was their way of taking care of the lawsuits. naturally, this brings up all kinds of questions like: "how the fuck can there even be such a thing as an unlicensed hospital?" and, of course, "remind me again, why do i live here?"

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