The Fall from Grace of Taiwan's Media

Though some say that they are man-eat-ers, that sucking blood is second nature to them, pursuing the news is their creed. How is it that reporters, the recorders of society's happenings, the arbiters of right and wrong, have themselves come to be judged? What struggles do reporters go through, and what pressures are they subject to when deciding whether or not to write a piece of news?

At the beginning of June, the United Evening News ran a headline news story stating that pitcher Kuo Yuan-chih's daughter had been kidnapped by gangsters, and then quickly released after the payment of an NT$100 million ransom. The day after the story ran, the China Times Express published an article on page three of its paper blasting the United Daily News for taking an unconfirmed story and turning it into headline news. Kuo and his teammates also protested.

In mid-June, with the publication of news of the dissolution of author Lin Ching-hsuen's marriage, 50 representatives of the media turned up at a lecture he was giving which had been booked solid one year in advance. The media's response caused Lin to poke a little fun at his new-found fame, pointing out that though he had written more than 100 books, few people had ever attempted to evaluate his contribution to society. But now that he had divorced and remarried, he was suddenly worthy of this grand treatment by reporters.

Are reporters guilty?

At the same time that reporters are serving society through their dual roles as disseminators of new information and society's watchdogs, they are being obstructed in the carrying out of their duty by the very society which they are serving. The reporters are not completely responsible for those problems which have recently surfaced.

However, the traditional objectivity of the news media has certainly come under attack recently. At the same time, "self-regulation" has become a hot topic of discussion in media circles. With the rapid growth of the media in recent years, stories of the public's dislike for people employed in the news industry have begun to circulate.

At the end of March, the media reported on 10-year-old Chou Tah-kuan's efforts to "fight cancer with poetry." Following the publication of the story, so many government officials and reporters squeezed into Tah-kuan's hospital room that he became fed up, telling them "Stop taking pictures!"

On April 26, the news that entertainer Pai Ping-ping's daughter had been kidnapped was revealed. At the first press conference following the release of the news, Pai tearfully told of how she had discovered reporters following her on her way to pay the ransom. She asked the media, "Were you helping me or hurting me?"

Conflicts, disputes, disasters, unusual events, all of these are newsworthy. In journalism, the fundamental principle of news worthiness is that "Dog bites man" is not news, but "Man bites dog" is. Simply put, it takes bad news to make a good news story.

"Reporters are guilty!" stated banners held by citizens near Pai Ping-ping's house after the discovery of the body of her daughter Pai Hsiao-yan. Chin Pu-tzung, assistant professor in the Department of Journalism at Chengchi University, wrote that the coroner's report that the initial examination of Pai Hsiao-yan's body indicated that she had been killed eight or nine days prior to her April 28 discovery caused police to heave a huge sigh of relief. The results of the examination removed the possibility that it was the police's formal announcement of the kidnapping which pushed the kidnappers to kill their victim. However, results led to a different doubt: Was it the reporters, who, in their desire to get a scoop, employed helicopters and mobile units and followed police on the ransom delivery, who unnerved the kidnappers and caused them to kill their victim?

Even President Lee Teng-hui, speaking at a press conference, said that the news media "reports on these kidnappings again and again, . . . even I'm afraid."

Quantity not quality

Do the public's fears really arise from the media's over-reporting of such crimes?

The news media doesn't agree with this view. In the Society section of the United Evening News, the paper stated that "If it were not for the media's relentless pursuit of the news, would there be cabinet reshuffles, would government officials step down, would there be presidential news conferences?"

"Of course there are instances of the news media reporting something inappropriate, but you can't ask reporters not to report," says one reporter.

Some say that the society creates the media in its own image. On the other hand, given the strength of the media's influence on society, others say that the media molds the society. The media must bear some of the responsibility for the chaos that exists in society and many people feel that the media has simply expanded too rapidly.

Every time we turn on the TV news, we see a politician or bureaucrat surrounded by the media, talking as he walks while he, the reporters themselves, the cameras, and the microphones all bang into one another. During last year's presidential election, on the occasion of Senior Advisor to the President Hau Pei-tsun's birthday, a large group of journalists blocked the entrance to the hotel where the celebration was being held. In their efforts to interview the guests at the party, journalists knocked 70-year-old former-Premier Lee Huan to the ground.

When big news occurs, there's usually an average of more than 100 journalists at the scene trying to conduct interviews. After the assassination of Taoyuan County Magistrate Liu Pang-you, all of Taiwan's media ordered reporters and support units to the scene. At one point, there were more than 200 journalists present, leading the Taoyuan County Police Department to convert its large auditorium into a place for reporters to get some rest. In the area around Pai Ping-ping's house, mobile units could be seen driving back and forth at all hours. Everybody, not least of all the kidnappers, knew that something was up. When the van the kidnappers were suspected of having used in the kidnapping was discovered, reporters flocked to the scene. Police, however, had already sealed off the area and reporters could only stand outside the barricades taking pictures. Somehow, the newspaper reporters ended up blocking the view of the TV cameras. This led to the print reporters being banged on the head by cameras trying to shoot over them, which led, in turn, to much pushing and shouting by both groups.

"The most upsetting thing was the way the cameramen ran all over the funeral parlor and the mourning hall, showing no respect for the dead girl or her family. They had their lenses just a few inches away from Pai Ping-ping's face. Did all of these photographers and cameramen leave their telephoto lenses back at their newspapers and TV stations?" wonders Lee Chu-yuan, who also works in the news business.

Meeting deadlines

Society blames news organizations for their behavior. The Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ) and the National Press Council have appealed to the media to regulate themselves and consider people's safety when conducting interviews for big cases. But can a reporter's own yardstick be relied upon to effectively measure such concerns?

Lin Chau-chen, a reporter for the China Times, faced with the death in quick succession of two people she had interviewed, wrote of one of the difficulties of a reporter's work, "The thing I really couldn't forgive myself for was that even though they had lost their lives, I just had no time to feel sad."

The news keeps coming and "even before your tears are dry, you have to move on to the next battle," says Hsi Hsien-teh, a veteran of many newspapers. Hsi, who now works in the academic world as an assistant professor in Fu Jen University's Department of Mass Communications, says that a reporter "does everything himself." The work does not even remotely conform to the labor code. With reporters working an average of more than eight hours everyday, when do they have time to reflect on their conduct?

"You often run into your colleagues early in the morning, sitting in a police station in Tayuan, Chungli, Pingchen, or Tahsi, red-eyed from exhaustion, but shooting the bull with police, waiting for something to happen," says a local reporter with the United Daily News. The reporters waiting near Pai Ping-ping's house often spent days on end eating, drinking, and sleeping in their cars. Reporters often go without rest or normal creature comforts, but for what?

After the murder of Liu Pang-you and his staff in Taoyuan, an executive with the United Daily News held a meeting with his local news bureau reporters on the 14th floor of their building. Referring to the breaking of the case or the capture of the killers, he told his reporters, "If you fail to get this story, jumping from the 14th floor is too good for you. You should climb up to at least the 20th floor and jump from there." This speech chilled the bones of the local reporters, who replied, "If we fail to get the story, we'll turn in a resignation without another word."

Surviving in the midst of contradiction

The character of the work - turning in copy daily, the constant fear of missing out on a story, the knowledge that an article may potentially influence millions of readers - determines the attitude and the style of news people.

"If you are not thick-skinned, you're not going to earn your keep in this profession. Forget about how beautifully some reporters write. If you go to the scene of the news, you'll see just how shameless they really are. If someone tells them they're not allowed to do something, then they must do it. If someone says they can't enter, they'll climb over the wall. If someone throws them out, they'll straighten their clothes, pull themselves together and push their way back inside, " says China Times reporter Hsu Tzung-mau. Hsu thinks that all that can be said of this kind of behavior is that the interests of the reporter are not the same as the interests of the interviewee.

Wu Pei-jung, medical reporter for the Central Daily News, was moved when she saw 10-year-old Chou Tah-kuan turn his passion for life into rich writings. But she did not understand why his parents, after establishing a fund for his medical care, went out of their way to invite government officials to the hospital to see their son. This started an endless stream of visitors which, in turn, adversely affected their son's condition. When Wu asked Tah-kuan's father about this, he admitted that the media was a "necessary evil" in establishing the fund. He was also very displeased with Wu's questioning of his and his wife's motives.

"Reporters try to survive in the midst of contradiction. There's no hard and fast rule which clearly states how you are to act with an interviewee. You can't be too intimate and you can't be too belligerent," states Luo Kuo-chun, director of the News Bureau at the United Daily News. Luo says, "Reporters write about people's problems every day, constantly measuring the space between people."

If the media does its job well, its power can be tremendous. It can be a "fourth estate" overseeing the government, one in addition to the three traditional branches of government: the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary.

Reporting foreign affairs

But the "fourth estate" ideal often comes into conflict with reality. When there is very sensitive news about cross-strait relations or foreign affairs, reporters must always decide between the national interest and playing out their role as the people's informants.

Since the government in Taiwan began to allow visits to relatives in the mainland, relations across the Taiwan Strait have gone through warm periods and tense periods. There is news, both accurate and false. Must reporters report everything they hear? The question is often disputed.

Jung Fu-tien, deputy editor-in-chief of the China Times, believes that PRC government officials have always excelled at using the media to spread rumors, causing Taiwanese to misjudge the state of Taiwan's relations with the mainland.

In 1992, at the PRC's 14th Party Congress, Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin emphasized that with the exception of the "One-China Principle," Taiwan and the mainland could discuss anything. After he finished his report, a P.R.C. government official came over to tell the Taiwanese reporters that Jiang's meaning was that "even the name of the nation and its flag are open to negotiation." The China Times decided that this was an instance of the mainland trying to seduce Taiwan into negotiations and therefore did not print the official's remarks. Some local media did, however, quote the comments.

Jung Fu-tien explains that there is no consensus within Taiwan on the problems of a national flag and national name and the government has used this lack of consensus as its reason for rejecting political negotiations with the mainland. The mainland official's intention was obviously to bring Taiwan to the political bargaining table as soon as possible. For the last few years, the mainland's use of the media to test the waters has not changed. As for last year's mainland missile exercises, Jung thinks that the mainland deliberately used the Hong Kong media to create tension between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait by emphasizing the strength of its military and its willingness to use force against Taiwan. Given the tremendous volume and diversity of information concerning the mainland, and the difficulty of verifying any of it, it is hard to know if such rumblings are genuine or empty threats. The media must judge very carefully.

For the last few years, Taiwan has been actively working to increase the scope of its foreign relations. To avoid protests from the mainland government, the itineraries of foreign visits by local officials are a closely guarded secret and these officials avoid the media assiduously. But this approach is directly at odds with the media's efforts to scoop the news. This has often led to government officials playing a kind of hide-and-seek with the media.

In August of last year, after Vice-President and Premier Lien Chan visited the Dominican Republic, with whom Taiwan has full diplomatic ties, he shook off the reporters who were with him and disappeared. Taiwan's media was forced to "call out the reserves" to search for the vice-president. On August 20, three newspapers published their best guesses as to where he was: The Liberty Times stated that the vice-president had visited Munich on the previous day; the China Times guessed that he had visited Hungary; the United Daily News said that he had flown to Kiev to meet the leader of the Ukraine. In fact, he had gone to the Ukraine. Though the United Daily News won this particular news skirmish, the other two papers were not far wrong.

In December, after Foreign Minister John Chang visited South Africa to discuss that country's breaking of diplomatic ties with Taiwan, he, too, disappeared. From South Africa, Chang made a transfer in Belgium before returning home. When he arrived back in Taiwan, he put forward his famous "Rice Cooking Theory" of reporting on foreign affairs, stating that the news media's constant hounding of officials is like a person repeatedly opening the lid of the rice pot while the rice is cooking; in that situation, the rice never gets done. He then asked everyone to forgive him for his disappearance.

The public's right to know

Perhaps worthy of discussion is the willingness of the American public to accept the exclusion of the media from certain large events.

In December of 1983, Time reported in its cover story that the media, the traditional "voice of the people," had lost the support of the man in the street. When then-President Reagan sent troops into Grenada, the Pentagon decided to follow the UK's example from the Falklands War by imposing a media blackout. The decision elicited protests from the American media.

The media said that the decision violated the people's "right to know," but the people themselves seemed not to care. In fact, they seemed to count themselves fortunate. According to Time, it was "as if laryngitis had silenced a chronic complaint." What this seems to mean is that people felt they needed a break from the constant barrage of news.

Time went on to say that people feel that reporters no longer have high ideals, no longer speak the truth without thought of the cost to themselves, and are no longer fair-minded or trustworthy. Instead people feel that reporters are only concerned with getting an exclusive scoop or inside information for their own benefit or the sake of their reputation. People feel that the reporters are not the least bit concerned with national security, the common man, or even the privacy and civil rights of public figures.

Last February, the Atlantic Monthly ran a cover story entitled "Why Americans Hate the Media." The 14-page article examined the news media's long-standing inability to win the general public's trust. People believe the media glorifies itself and doesn't actually see society's real problems. According to the magazine, what American reporters view as worth reporting and what the public views as such are quite different. The magazine cited an example. In 1992, when then-President Reagan met with a youth group, one person present stated, "I notice that it's the media that is responsible for the negative portrayal of young people in our society. What can political leaders do to persuade the media that there is good news about youth?"

Starting with yourself

In both Taiwan and the rest of the world, it is the character of the news industry that leads reporters to focus on negative events. In theory, the public has "the right to know," and it is reporters who execute this right on the behalf of the public. This is the origin of freedom of the press. But in this extremely competitive market, the standards used by editors, publishers, and producers in making value judgments seem to be somewhat removed from those of the general public.

Most people don't know anything about reporters. All people know is the style of the newspapers from the news they contain.

Professor Luo Wen-hui of the Chengchi University Department of Journalism conducted research into the public's perception of the trustworthiness of the members of 10 professions. Luo found that TV reporters ranked third while their newspaper counterparts trailed far behind, ranking seventh. Interestingly, more than 90% of the respondents to his survey didn't know even one reporter and had never been interviewed by one. Given this, where did their impressions come from?

Luo thinks that most of these impressions come indirectly. Says Luo, "TV reporters are seen on TV frequently. Most of them have a clean-cut look, dress neatly, and speak clearly. It's easy for them to make a good impression." He says that newspaper reporters, on the other hand, are rarely seen by readers, so people's impressions of them come instead from movies, novels, and what they have heard from others. As we don't really know what newspaper reporters look like, it's natural that our view of them is less positive than our view of TV reporters.

Given that, what are newspaper reporters really like? The insider perspective of reporter-turned-academic Hsi Hsien-ten is that there is no other profession that is subject to such threats or such temptations.

In 1995, reporters from the Taiwan Times and the United Daily News were attacked and seriously injured in Taichung by unknown assailants. This led the ATJ to begin a campaign against violence and threats against the news media. The campaign gathered together more than 1,000 people to ask the government to protect the safety of reporters.

In addition to threats, there are temptations. Even now, there are those who feel that journalists can be bought. In October of 1995, the ATJ revealed that Best Leading Lady Co. (a chain of weight-loss centers), Liu Sheng-liang (a KMT-nominated legislative candidate for Taipei County), and the Department of Defense's Armed Forces University all had been involved in giving money to reporters in the guise of paying them information and attendance fees. It was because of this that the ATJ established a hot line for the returning of "hong bao." ("Hong bao" are red envelopes stuffed with cash.) Through this, the ATJ hopes to change societies feeling that news can be bought.

A gift-giving culture

Why do some people feel that news can be written to order for money?

Luo has done research on this topic, too. In his study, he asked more than 1000 reporters questions regarding their professional ethics. For example, the reporters were asked if such things as "accepting meals or gifts from news sources," "taking trips arranged by news sources when not working on a story," or "asking others to run ads for the reporter's organization" were acceptable behaviors. The results showed that more than half of the respondents thought that these were acceptable.

On Journalists Day in 1995, the ATJ established a code of news ethics. Among the articles, however, there was one which elicited a vehement response from reporters. It stated, "Reporters shall not accept trips, gifts, or money from government officials or other such objects of media attention. They shall also reject all other efforts to purchase, threaten, or coerce [news stories]."

Many reporters felt that as this could not be put into practice, it need not have been included in the code. Because of this response, the Association held a special meeting to discuss the issue and hear reporters' opinions. At the meeting, some journalists were of the opinion that, "If I don't take the money, it will create tension with other reporters." Others felt that, "Reporters on the local beat have long viewed these gifts as one of the benefits of their job." Still others thought, "The government should first be made to cut this kind of money for reporters out of its budgets." And some reporters from southern Taiwan stressed that "Reporters in northern Taiwan shouldn't look down on the reporters in the center and south as many of Taipei's reporters also take 'hong bao.'"

"Reporters have had their characters twisted," says Hsi sympathetically. He also feels that society is too prejudiced against the profession.

Unprintable

Reporters and news sources must live in close contact with one another. Their relationship makes it very difficult for reporters to "bite the hand that feeds them" by writing unflattering things about their sources. Further, as the media is privately owned and operated, the independence of a journalist's reportage is subject to threats from "the establishment."

"The news media records society's changes, but is itself a terribly conservative profession," says He Jung-hsing, the convener and former head of the Association of Taiwan Journalists and a reporter with the Liberty Times. Only 12 of Taiwan's newspapers have labor unions. Of course, a part of the reason for this is related to Taiwan's 40 years under martial law. However, even with the lifting of martial law, many of Taiwan's newspaper bosses view labor unions as their worst nightmare and there are cases of reporters being fired for trying to organize unions.

Su Cheng-ping, deputy editor-in-chief at the Taiwan Daily News, says, "Unions demand a lot, which damages a newspaper's competitiveness." He explains that labor unions use work slowdowns and strikes to pressure management to give in to demands. The difficulty is that a newspaper is published daily. If the paper doesn't go out, readers pick up a different paper.

In August of 1994, the Independence Evening Post was bought out, causing a dispute between labor and management. On August 16, the newspaper was published bearing only the headline "History will remember this day." It was meant to be something of an apology to readers. However, a message came back from the southern part of the island, "Readers and shops find this situation unacceptable [referring to the publishing of a blank page]. . . . If tomorrow's paper is the same, please do not deliver it."

The Independence Post situation started numerous disputes, among them: Could a buyout influence the content of the news? Can labor request that management sign an agreement to respect the integrity of the reporters? If labor doesn't put out a paper, is this making private use of a public resource? The issues were debated back and forth by academics, but no conclusion was reached.

Before the lifting of martial law, the Independence Post Group was known for the sharpness of its writing and its sympathy for the opposition. When news of its sale to a KMT-affiliated group was announced, there was much support for its staff from academics and reporters in all media. More than 400 people from all walks of life turned out on Journalist's Day (September 1) for a march for an independent press. These events led to the birth of Taiwan's first professional organization for journalists, the Association of Taiwan Journalists.

Not interested

Academics feel that newspaper owners should encourage reporters in their efforts to use their collective strength to resist pressures to violate professional ethics. However, on the day after the march, the Independence Morning Post was the only paper to report the event to its readers.

This lack of media attention caused media scholar Hsu Chia-shih to infer the guidelines apparently employed by Taiwan's newspapers when determining whether or not to print news involving themselves: "News of benefit to our paper such as awards to be presented, the anniversary of the paper's founding, or conferences sponsored by our paper will certainly be printed. No news of other papers will be printed. If there is news from other sources that is of benefit to us, we will print the main points. If such news is not of benefit to us, we will not print a line."

"Not reporting this story was equivalent to reporting it," says Hsu. It made the newspaper owners' position on the issue very clear. He goes on, "The fight for independence by news media workers will be a difficult one."

Every day, journalists write about justice and fair play and fight for the rights of others. They are the voice of the people. But who speaks for them?

"All segments of Taiwan's society are sick. The media is just one part of the larger problem," says Liberty Times reporter Ho Jung-hsing. He thinks that society is asking journalists to regulate themselves, to act on their conscience, but, "Appealing to each individual journalist's moral conscience just isn't effective and it isn't the most pressing issue. Change must begin with the system."

In the more than two years since the founding of the ATJ, only something over 300 journalists have joined out of the thousands employed at Taiwan's newspapers and weekly news magazines. Why are Taiwan's reporters so disinterested in their own organization?

Su Cheng-ping, the head of the ATJ, says that reporters spend every day criticizing this and criticizing that while they think themselves without compare. He says that spending every day racing against the clock, they think they haven't the time to join an organization or union. Moreover, before their rights have been taken away, people are never conscious of the need for such an organization.

Where to?

"Journalists are very worldly people, but journalism classes make them out to be angels. This makes for a lot of shattered illusions," says Hsi Hsien-teh.

But speaking of the criticism that journalism education is subject to, Professor Chen Shih-min of Chengchi University's Department of Journalism is irritated. He asks how many senior reporters still follow up their own leads. Many reporters wake up on their fortieth birthday and realize that they have no idea where their career is going. Do journalists have any prospects for getting ahead in their career?

A journalist's stage is his readership. Reporters on the beat spend every day chasing down news, attending press conferences, and building up a network of sources. The object of their efforts is to write believable, analytical copy. Their career challenges their physical stamina, their intellectual abilities, and their patience.

But readership rates and the quality of reports are often ignored in the rush to produce copy. Beat reporters complain of being hounded for copy and the extra page space needed by senior reporters is never provided.

On November 17, 1993, the China Times published an exclusive interview with President Lee Teng-hui. According to Hsi's research, the exclusive was a serious blow to the United Daily News. The union at the United Daily News then printed an article in its monthly publication asking where all the experienced political reporters trained by the paper had gone.

According to the article, "Currently, the reporters in the reporting center have an average of less than five years of experience and the heads of the various groups have an average of less than 10 years of experience. For such a young and inexperienced group to be handling the front page of Taiwan's largest paper is laughable."

"Every reporter goes through a learning phase," says the head of one local newspaper. But with 70% of news staff new to the job, there's no one to teach them.

The problem is that "the industry has expanded too quickly. As soon as a new reporter comes to work he's thrown into a complicated situation," says Luo. He uses politics as an example saying that the new reporters believe everything the politicians say. "Politicians aren't evil, but they do live in an complicated environment. A cub reporter can't instantaneously understand all of the background against which these people operate. They need time to learn." But, in the current situation, there's no time for them to grow into their role. This problem is even more serious in the "no picture, no news" world of electronic media.

"The definition of success generally accepted by journalists is achieving the position of editor-in-chief. The effort to reach this position leads reporters to scramble after chances at promotion," says Hsi.

A reporter for life

Senior reporters influence the quality of a newspaper and journalists' acceptance of their own profession.

Examining why domestic media has been unable to establish a senior reporter system, the National Press Council found that most reporters leave the profession in mid-career. Those who perform well become administrators and no longer have any time to write, leaving front-line reporting far behind them.

Su Cheng-ping describes this as unfortunate. Su, who has been working in the news media for 10 years, worked at the Independence Morning Post and is now employed at the Taiwan Daily News. Though both papers are aware of the need for senior reporters, they don't have the financial resources to bring them in. He says, "Senior reporters are expensive." "Senior" means years of experience and it takes a high salary to retain such reporters. Su says that just after the government's lifting of newspaper censorship, the Independence Post Group felt that the newspaper industry's prospects were bright and it established a political and economic think tank to train senior reporters. However, competition in the industry was too intense and the newspaper still had to go out every day. In the end, the group did not have sufficient resources to put into the plan and gave it up.

Small and medium-sized papers don't have the ability to establish a senior reporter system. For larger papers, the problem isn't in the system, but in the will to follow through.

In 1988, the United Daily News Group began to name senior reporters. The selection was based on criteria such as a minimum of 10 years of experience, performance on the job, and the ability to plan news strategy. These senior reporters were relieved of administrative tasks, allowed to focus their reporting on a specific topic, and given high salaries. But the group later realized that there were problems with the implementation of its plan. Luo explains that the beat reporters complained continuously. They felt that they were doing all the work while the senior reporters were getting all the glory. It was a blow to their enthusiasm for journalism. Eventually, this well-intentioned system was converted into one in which senior reporters simply receive salary increases.

"Senior reporters are looking for emotional gratification from their work," says Lin Yuen-hui, an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism at Chengchi University. Lin, who has worked as a reporter at the Economic Daily News, says that senior reporters want respect for their work and they want page space. But when owners get out their calculators and consider that they are going to have to wait months for articles to be produced, they usually feel that such things are not cost-effective.

The China Times Group has a contributing editor position and a special case bureau for reporters with more than ten years of experience. This allows reporters of excellence and experience to suggest ideas for regular columns. It also lets them take over for supervisors when those supervisors are not present. But this system also faces the problem of whether or not senior reporters should be delineating the domain of the news.

Yang Wei-min, head of the China Times' Education, Science, and Culture Bureau, feels that "it's best to stay on the beat." She thinks that when on the scene, you can appreciate the atmosphere and you accumulate knowledge. She uses the recently concluded National Technology Conference as an example. Yang, who attended the proceedings daily, saw many of the younger reporters just waiting outside and drinking tea. Occasionally, they asked her what was being discussed inside and used this information to write their re ports. When she asked them why they didn't go inside, they all said they didn't understand what was being discussed and were bored. But for Yang, who knew the speakers' backgrounds and what each hoped to achieve at the conference, it was fascinating.

Today's news, tomorrow's history

A journalist's attitude towards his work determines what kind of job he has. Even though there is often a great distance between the media's ideals and its reality, many reporters view their job not as "work," but rather, as something they believe in.

"The most meaningful part of being a reporter is standing on the scene of history-in-the-making. His work is finding these events and presenting them to the public," says China Times reporter Hsu Tzung-mau. He says that when he was in South Africa watching the last wall separating human races from one another come down, hearing Mandela speak, seeing South African blacks dancing and singing in the streets, he felt, "This isn't news, it's people, it's humanity, it's the natural world. I felt a rush of all kinds of emotions." And he was right in the middle of it all.

One reason senior reporters still haven't made a mark on Taiwan's society is that with Taiwan's media having been free of censorship for less than 10 years, reporters have not yet found their place in today's more open society.

Chengchi University's Chen Shih-min says that in the ten years since the opening up of the media, no one has stopped to ask if perhaps 60 pages of news is too much. He believes that we see too much garbage and too few reports by senior reporters. He sighs and says that journalism educators don't know where to begin to combat the problem.

Be that as it may, Chen nonetheless encourages senior reporters who are not receiving recognition for their work to consider entering the "personal news industry." In his view, the publishing industry is a very individualistic one. An experienced reporter can fully exploit all the information he has gathered in his work and take advantage of his broad perspective on events. Besides which, the income is not less than that of a reporter. Chen cites examples of newsletters written just for oil company executives or school principals. He believes, "Even with big media outlets, there should also be space for small media."

News lives for 24 hours and today's news is tomorrow's history, or tomorrow's mistake. For this we have to depend on journalists and their dedication to their profession.

[Picture Caption]

Journalists have a duty to protect and inform society. This requires independence. On Journalists Day in 1994, despite the rain 400 journalists turned out to march for an independent media. (photo by Vincent Chang)

With big murders happening one after another, people from all walks of society turned out for the May 4 March. College and university students came together to blame the media for its inappropriate handling of the news of Pai Hsiao-yan's kidnapping. (photo by Cheng Mei-li)

Broadcast vans belonging to local TV stations drove back and forth near Pai Ping-ping's Linkou home hoping for a scoop. Can the media balance its responsibilities, obligations, and moral conscience? (photo by Hsueh Chi-kuang)

During a protest march, photographers pushed their way through the crowd seeking pictures only to find themselves sandwiched between the marchers and police.

When government officials make visits abroad, it is often necessary to keep their itineraries secret. This leads to conflict with journalists whose role is to keep society informed. The photo shows Vice-President Lien Chan visiting Dublin's Trinity College. (photo by Lee Pei-hui)

News has a very short life, sometimes one day, sometimes just a few seconds. A few days after the death of an aboriginal girl, the media ends their coverage and everybody forgets about it.

In 1994, the Independence Post Group was bought out. Employees hoped tha t the new owners would agree to respect the editorial department's independence an d tried to apply pressure to them by publishing an edition of the Independence Evening Post blank except for the headline, "History will remember this day." (photo by Vincent Chang)

The most gratifying thing in a reporter's life is being present when his tory is being made. The return of Hong Kong to mainland Chinese control in 1997 has been the focus of attention for journalists from all over the world. (photo by Diago Chiu)

Broadcast vans belonging to local TV stations drove back and forth near Pai Ping-ping's Linkou home hoping for a scoop. Can the media balance its responsibilities, obligations, and moral conscience? （photo by Hsueh Chi-kuang）

During a protest march, photographers pushed their way through the crowd seeking pictures only to find themselves sandwiched between the marchers and police.

When government officials make visits abroad, it is often necessary to keep their itineraries secret. This leads to conflict with journalists whose role is to keep society informed. The photo shows Vice-President Lien Chan visiting Dublin's Trinity College. （photo by Lee Pei-hui）

News has a very short life, sometimes one day, sometimes just a few seconds. A few days after the death of an aboriginal girl, the media ends their coverage and everybody forgets about it.

In 1994, the Independence Post Group was bought out. Employees hoped tha t the new owners would agree to respect the editorial department's independence an d tried to apply pressure to them by publishing an edition of the Independence Evening Post blank except for the headline, "History will remember this day." （photo by Vincent Chang）

The most gratifying thing in a reporter's life is being present when his tory is being made. The return of Hong Kong to mainland Chinese control in 1997 has been the focus of attention for journalists from all over the world. （photo by Diago Chiu）