TaiwanPlus is trying to change the narrative media news of the autonomous island

Taipei, Taiwan – Creating a brand new media from scratch is a huge challenge for any team, but in Taipei, TaiwanPlus employees are trying more difficult things.

From a two-minute video clip to a 45-minute movie on culture, health, technology, and politics, to a half-hour daily news program, they hope to gain more presence in the international media space for the diplomatic isolation of Taiwan, and Change the way overseas talk about democracy.

“For us, our main goal is to tell stories about Taiwan that are not reported by the international media, and tell the story of Taiwan fairly, good or bad,” said Andrew Ryan, deputy director of news at TaiwanPlus.

For a long time, foreign media reports on Taiwan have been based on the relationship with Beijing. Beijing claims that the island is its own island, and because of its political status disputes, the media has never called it a “country” except at home.

However, since the 2016 Cai Ing-wen election, foreign coverage has begun to change, and part of the lot contributes to the story of global resonance-from becoming the first country in Asia Legalization of same-sex marriage Taipei successfully responded to COVID-19.

Political repression in mainland China and Hong Kong has also helped to increase interest in Taiwan as a successful democracy that values ​​freedom of speech. Recently, it has become a refuge for some of the 20 foreign journalists expelled by Beijing since last year.

TaiwanPlus, Taiwan’s first English-language video news platform, was officially launched on August 30.

TaiwanPlus produces short films covering Taiwan and the Asia-Pacific region and longer programs such as “Made in Taiwan” [Supplied]

Another short program enters the National Palace Museum in Taipei [Supplied]

The large cardboard background with the company cross logo and the number “8/30” or August 30 is still prominent in the office, part of the Central News Agency building in the center of Taipei, the Associated Press, AFP, and Kyodo Press News also has offices.

It started with a team of less than 20 people, and now has more than 70 employees, and it seems to be growing and expanding to other free spaces.

Next year, the company will move to a new office, and it is expected that there will be more “start-up” feel than the current decorations-institutional gray carpets, ceiling tiles and fluorescent lights.

The staff includes reporters from Taiwan and abroad. They have extensive experience in major foreign media such as The Associated Press, BBC, Bloomberg, and The Washington Post. Divya Gopalan, Director of TaiwanPlus News Center, worked for Al Jazeera.

Soft power projection

Although it is too early to measure the impact of “TaiwanPlus”, Su Jianing, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication, Journalism and Public Relations at the University of Oakland in the United States, said that this channel has great potential to expand the influence of Taiwan’s soft power.

“I think that for each country, they need to be committed to self-promotion and national brand building, and they need to work hard to show themselves to an international audience as a way to seek international support,” Su said. “I think this is especially important for a small country like Taiwan, and (its) international status is actually ambiguous.”

TaiwanPlus is currently operating as a project of Taiwan’s state-owned news agency, Central News Agency, and has reported to the Ministry of Culture that the Ministry of Culture will allocate approximately US$200 million in funds over the next four years.

TaiwanPlus is advertised as an “independent” news media, but its relationship with the government has raised some questions in Taiwan about whether this is feasible.

In East Asia, this issue is particularly prescient, because Hong Kong, a region that was once regarded as a regional press freedom center, is subject to strict government scrutiny due to their reports of Hong Kong’s protests in 2019 and their work under the policies imposed by the People’s Republic of China. National security legislation.

The democracy tabloid “Apple Daily” was forced to close, and on the Hong Kong public radio station, Radio Hong Kong, a new director was appointed earlier this year, a professional civil servant with no media experience, triggering a wave of resignation, dismissal and dismissal. . Plan to cancel.

Since China implemented the National Security Law in June last year, Hong Kong media has been under pressure. The Apple Daily released its final version in Hong Kong on June 23. [File: Tyrone Siu/Reuters]

A more patriotic tone appeared in the editorial page of the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong’s most well-known English-language newspaper overseas.

“Tsai Ing-wen refuses to admit that there is only one China that causes tension across the strait,” the newspaper wrote in an editorial on Tuesday. “Unless she rejects independent-minded speech and policies, Taiwanese will have no certainty and no chance of greater prosperity.”

Cedric Albani, Director of the East Asia Office of Reporters Without Borders Asia Pacific, said that a good test for Taiwan Plus will be whether it has produced clips that criticize the government and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

Others, such as Jaw-Nian Huang, an assistant professor at National Chengchi University, who wrote about freedom of the press in Taiwan, said that after the media’s current arrangement with CNA expires, it should be split into an autonomous media.

“Taiwan Plus’s current organizational and financial structure cannot ensure its independence because its funders, owners and executors are all official,” Huang said. “However, this does not mean that there is no autonomy. If the authorities are willing to allow TaiwanPlus to develop undisturbed, it will be more autonomous, and vice versa.”

However, for the time being, Ryan stated that TaiwanPlus intends to operate as an independent media, with CNA providing independent staff, budget and editorial decisions, although they do receive administrative support from the parent organization because they are not yet considered a “legal entity” “.

The platform currently has an independent committee to oversee its work, but Huang said that TaiwanPlus should ultimately be under the jurisdiction of an organization such as the Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation, which has less funding and government supervision.

“It needs more reforms to ensure its independence and allow Taiwan to represent the country instead of the government or political parties,” Huang said.

Fight back against the Beijing story

With the launch of Taiwan’s domestic media, it is also facing its own dilemma.

The island ranks 43rd in the RSF’s annual press freedom survey, one place ahead of the United States, but one place behind South Korea.

Although government intervention is rare today, media experts say that widespread sensational and misinformation activities related to Beijing have eroded the quality of Taiwan’s news. The news media is also considered to be highly partisan and leaning towards the two major parties in Taiwan.

Taiwan has long been concerned about the so-called “red media”-media that have connections with mainland China and are related to propaganda and misinformation. The placards of the 2019 protests read “Reject Red Media” and “Maintain National Democracy” [File: Hsu Tsun-hsu/AFP]

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, these two trends have been obvious because the Chinese media played an important role in dissemination. Vaccine skepticism and conspiracy theories Regarding Taiwan’s vaccine shortage, it tried to blame the government and avoid global production problems.

“This is an island with a population of only 23 million. There are 7 to 8 24/7 news channels competing with each other, so the competition is very fierce,” said Su Qiaoning, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication, Journalism and Public Relations at the University of Oakland in the United States.

However, TaiwanPlus will compete in the world of government-affiliated media such as Voice of America, France 24, China’s CGTN, and Iran’s News and TV stations, all of which are looking for audiences with English content abroad.

However, due to the limited budget of TaiwanPlus, its scale of operations is smaller than that of its peers, and the 24-hour news report does not seem to be put into use anytime soon.

The public traffic data compiled by the US marketing company SEMRush shows that the number of website visits in September was 324,400, and the number of unique visitors was 75,600, and the average visit time was about 13 minutes. Its two YouTube channels containing most of the same content have accumulated approximately 7,000 subscribers and 123,000 views.

However, even with more moderate ambitions, experts like Huang say that as Taiwan+ becomes a mature media organization, it may still be able to make an impact, especially by providing negative narratives overseas to Beijing-backed media.

It may also be popular with Taiwanese and Chinese diasporas, as many people live in English-speaking countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia.

“The English audience in Taiwan is (limited), so it won’t have much impact on domestic media. “Taiwan+” is an English-language media for an international audience, including English-speaking foreigners and overseas Taiwanese and Chinese,” he said. Therefore, they hope to provide “alternative information resources and Taiwanese perspectives, such as CGTN,” for China’s overseas promotion.