The twentieth century is the age of the information explosion. And in the last decade of this century, information is not only abundant, it is mind boggling and haphazard as well.
To take a few examples:
From the reports of the foreign media, Taipei is most famous for being " expensive"--a steak dinner for 300 US dollars, and clothing that even exceeds Japan. Yet when you stroll along the streets you can see "Maand Pa's Steak Dinners" for only three dollars, and shirts selling for about seven bucks.
After the outbreak of the Iraq-Kuwait war, international oil prices rose, and "going up" was the constant rumor for domestic prices as well. But from another angle, one hears news that the prices of most goods for daily use are dropping.
All three television stations claim that according to surveys, their own program has the highest viewer rating for the 8:00 PM time slot.
It was rumored that business at a certain mass media outfit was less than ideal, and that there would be layoffs. When the story hit the papers, that company denied the report outright: We want to add more pages, why would we want to lay anybody off?
It seems that these bits of information contradict each other. Yet they are also facts: Prices in Taiwan are "polarizing." The ratings for TV programs do differ according to different survey methods. And that company really does want to increase the number of its pages--because business is not ideal, and its advertising it less than expected, it will compensate by increasing content.
Fact is not the same thing as truth. Especially as the mass media are competing intensely for scoops and exclusives, and lean toward the more provocative stories, often one-sided reports prove to be only "partial truths."
This issues's cover story, "Riding the Consumer Roller Coaster: Taiwan Is on the Verge of a New Price Era" will try to give a relatively complete, truthful report on prices in Taiwan. Copy editor Elaine Chen has gone through US State Department standards for business trip expenses, reports of the Commodity Price Supervisory Board of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, data from the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics, and reports from home and abroad, and has interviewed scholars, specialists, government officials, and numerous entrepreneurs--including those in the clothing, food, furniture, real estate, sundry goods, hotel, electrical appliances, antiques, travel, and even small eatery lines of business--to bring you the latest on the domestic price situation.
In "In the Wake of Gallup Mania", media scholar Hsu Chia-shih talks about what attitudes the average person should maintain in reading the results of public opinion polls which have been the rage in the papers lately.
"To determine if a poll is reliable, important indicators are the sampling methods, whether the scale is large or small, the parent sample, the actual content and phrasing of the questions, the degree of error, and so on. But these are often neglected. If they're not cut out of the reports entirely, then they're just tacked on briefly at the end. This means that the full significance of the survey does not become evident, and readers can be easily misled," points out Professor Hsu.
Being a modern information consumer, the up side is being able to hear a bevy of opinions. But the down side is, given this fact, it's necessary to absorb information from even more places, and the judiciously evaluate it: Which angle on the truth is really closest to reality?
[Picture Caption]
Copy editor Elaine Chen visits an antiques dealer, and carefully inspects antiques to investigate the reasons for recent price fluctuations. (photo by Diago Chiu)