Offering the various perspectives on how the media affect people’s opinion currently, translated…
Reality is NEVER the Only Possibility that We Have
Tieh-Chih Chang: My dreams when I grew up back in high school was becoming an editor-in-chief of a newspaper, perhaps, because I’d enjoyed being at the frontlines of what’s currently happening. (But actually, my dream was to become a rock-n’roll singer, but, that was, a far-fetched dream. And, my classmates were all, goody-two-shoes, and they weren’t, encouragements for me, to chase after what I’d really wanted to do).
After I entered into college, I’d gotten involved in the movements, and, I’d, changed my dreams to doing something in the academics, hoped that I can finish my masters, and go on to get a doctorate in political science, to explore, the most ideal and most possible systems in politics and economics.
After I got out of the armed services, on the verge of going abroad to get a graduate degree, I’d worried, that I may have to, spend my whole life, inside the ivory tower of the academia, so, I’d taken one, two years, to work as a reporter, to get to know the world, especially in the autumn of 2000, Taiwan was, just on the verge of the transitions. Being an apprentice of political science, this was, a great opportunity, for me, to explore, to discover, and to observe, the political forefront, and the changes in the systems.
And so, the first few years after my graduation, I was blessed enough, to write the column of “Speaking to Generation X” in “The New News Reports”, then, I’d started writing out political commentaries in my master’s studies, and so, I’d gotten interested by the media, although, I’d already, left my foolish dreams of my high school days far behind me.
My first choice of job was working for the “New News Reports”, especially, back then, the sponsor of the periodical being Hong-Ji Jeng, and the manager was Jien-Chuang Wang, the editor-in-chief, Chao Yang, this, was the golden opportunity for a literary, I could, learn a lot from them. And this became, my very first job as a reporter (and I’d gotten through the “XXX Events” too!)
Two years later, I went to New York to study, and published my very first book, “Voices & Anger: Can Rock n’ Roll Really, Change the World?”, and started writing columns for the multimedia. After 2007, returning to Taipei for some field research, I’d gone through a serious change in life, I was stuck between, whether I should go back to the States for a doctorate, or stay here, to write for a living.
The following years, I’d mostly worked between being an independent writer, and an editor. I’d worked as a department manager of a newspaper magazine, the assistant editor-in-chief for the “New News Weekly”, based in Hong Kong, using my iPad as a platform, “The Sun Times” for the Taiwan office, then, in 2012, I went to Hong Kong to work as the editor-in-chief for the “Extra”, and set up the “Bloomberg Business Weekly/Chinese Edition” at the same office.
In the spring of 2015, I’d, returned to Taipei, because I didn’t want to see the continual deterioration of the Taiwanese News Media, and hoped, that the skills I’d picked up these past couple of years can, help open up a few more doors for me, and so, I’d set up the in-depth reporters’ agency, “Reporters” with a group of excellent people, then, I’d worked alongside a couple more of talented individuals, used the newscast online to produce the in-depth interview programs of “Ask Politics”, and in 2016, I’d, started working as the primary advisor for “Digital Era”.
In these past five, six years, I’d experimented with various media (newspapers, magazines, iPad magazines, online media, streamed live, and hosted the radio shows, as well as the programs on public television), crossing over to the various sectors (news, finance, culture, life/fashion, tech). Luckily, these aren’t, forms of the innovations in media, it’s just, that I’d not had enough experience in these areas, and I can only, rely on myself, to try it on for size. And, all these seemingly different places all seemed to be totally different from what I did, but, they’d become, same in the cores for me; the methods are, to dig deeper, for the stories in depth, providing an in-depth view, to carry on in deeper, more meaningful conversation with those I was, interviewing; the goal is to help expand the thickness of the areas of public knowledge, to enrich the cultural awareness for the society.
Each experience was, an enriched learning experience, and each, a brave adventure, because I didn’t know if I was going to succeed. But, in the various places, it’d, helped me, to gain a more complete view of how the media worked, and, I’d, accumulated measures, to help make the media reporting more meaningful too.
Surely, there are still, difficulties in the times pressing before us, the breaking down of the older forms of media was way faster that we’d, supposed, and the newer versions of media was still, under explorations, not quite set up yet. I’m not sure, what’s up ahead, but, I know this for sure, that the readers want to read something meaningful; I’d refused to believe, that the reality before our eyes, was our, only option. (Yes, I think, that the news reports don’t need to be awful, to gain more viewers); I also know, that if, we’d gone with our original ways of doing things, we will, keep on, getting trapped, in this place where the horrible waves kept hitting at us.
Each of the wonderful news media is a beautiful little planet in the great galaxy, but, there are, still, MORE amazing planets for us to discover, it’s just, do we have the innovations, the imaginations, to find ways to get there.
And, I’d still dreamed up a ton of weird and wacky dreams of the media, and I’m still, preparing myself, for yet, another, grand adventure, on another planet right now.
So, this, is from your experience as a reporter, observing the changes in the news media, and, the news media hadn’t changed all that much, NOT for the better at least, and, there’s just, too many of the lowered quality reports out there, that we can all do without, what we’re looking for is, news media that are, unbiased (good luck on finding that!!!), along with one that presented BOTH sides of the stories, without leaning towards ANY one side (and yet, so long as the news medias are made by people, they will be BIASED, to an extent). So, we still hadn’t found any sort of a news media that’s, actually, CENTERED and presenting BOTH sides of the stories, using FACTS, so the readers, viewers can, MAKE their own conclusions based off of the information they’d received.
Innocence
Wei-Jing Lee: from a delicate and complex kind of a mindset, I’d become, totally, objecting, to articles about media. Perhaps, it’s, my pride, that I’d felt, that real communications is, next to impossible—I hated how simplistic the trends are going today, just, cussed out how the medias had lost the ideals, or paying pities on the weak, this seemingly justice-oriented beliefs are actually, cheap, and shameless. Nor would I, correspond with the beliefs of how the workers in the news media constantly, embellishing their own ideals, as if the end results of helping out the weak is the necessary sort of justice, and, the presentations bring forth a certain form of professionalism—the truth is exactly the opposite, only with the professionalisms in the news media, will it take us toward what the truth entails, and, we will be, closer to justice by this way of doing things. Perhaps, I’m, quite timid, I’d wanted to, avoid being attacked by others, and feared, that if I, pursued deeper, my life would become, chaotic, and I’d become, too overwhelmed with sorrows, that I can’t even, control the direction to which my life is going.
But, there had been once or twice, after I’d left the media for a long time, on one fatigued evening, because I was, relaxed, or had a little to drink, my tongue became, loosened, I’d, spoken those words, from a long-ago fairytale: Media operates independently of party politics, it’s, the FOURTH branch of the government, the news is the corner stone of democracy, and, it has, the obligations, to provide the facts to the public, and, only when the mass public completely understand the facts, will they be able to, make the right kinds of judgments on the issues, helping the democracy to move along, flow along more smoothly.
I’d blurted all of that out, and my friend was, laughing at me. He said, you are talking of the romanticisms from last century, it’s not how things are going right now. I’d felt, ashamed, because, people believed, that this idealism was, outdated, because I got laughed on, because I couldn’t, bite my tongue.
But, is this idealism, really, outdated? I’d still believed, to this very day, that only through the pursuits of truth, can our society start discussing practically, and we can, finally, exercise the beliefs of true democracy. Could it be, that being in the digital age, we no longer, participated in democracy anymore, overlooked the importance of discussing the topics publicly, and lost the desires to discover the specifics of our cultures?
If all of these pursuits are still in place, then, there’s NO reason why, the news media should get, scrapped.
The only difference being, in the digital age, before the social media took up our lives, the media workers had the media access going for them, and so, we must, warn ourselves constantly, of our values as gatekeepers, to shoulder that sense of responsibility of reporting the facts. Because of this form of democracy, the news started developing that higher standard of operation, focused on the scientific methods of making the news stories; the interviewed must be representative, deleting the words that were judgmental and biased, the ratios, the multifaceted views of the reports, quoting close to the facts, along with readability too. This was, a strict measure that stemmed from the high idealisms, and because of these restrictions, we were able to, make the lively, enriching discoveries.
News became a concept that rose and fell with modern day democracy, although the newspaper and the news media had been in Taiwan for over half a century already, and, there were the journalism majors long ago in the colleges and universities, but, the fourth power that stirred up the media, with the attempts of offering the higher quality levels of training came, in the start of the early nineties. It’s just that, this series of conceptual training, was rejected by the traditionalists, and, the reporters couldn’t, introspect, and with the onset of the online age, before this skill ever got a chance to flourish, it’d, withered away slowly.
Had we really, considered the basics: What, is media? What, is news? Is operating a news forum online the same as operating a news media? Is the squared view considered objective? What, is independent media? And, are those, smaller scaled media, truly, independent?
What I want to say was, if the news can become more professional, then, it would be, independent in nature, and the spirits, super natural, the matter of independence had always lie in whether or not professionalism is show.
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So, this, is the beliefs of two people, on the views of news media, and, it’s true, that there’s, NO news media that would be, just, because so long as the articles are written by people, then, they would be biased, because people ARE biased, and, it’s hard, to find that perfectly balanced view that we can be educated by these days, as there are, too many writers who are, posing their opinions as facts all over the printing press right now.