Legislative Yuan Deputy Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu "Hung Chun-pei Culture and Education Foundation" Public Interest Lecture

(Taiwan Business News) The media is part of social education and a channel for the public to understand the government's public policies. However, judging from the current social disorder, the media's quality is now low, which affects viewers' thinking and perceptions. The distorted media culture has created abnormal political phenomena and has even corrupted the original function of conveying the truth!

The Hung Chun-pei Culture and Education Foundation and Taiwan Business News invited Legislative Yuan Deputy Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu last Saturday to give a public interest lecture titled "The Impact of Current Media Culture on the Nation and Society" at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. Deputy Speaker Hung believes that the media is a very important part of social education, and Taiwan lives in an era dominated by the media, so its impact on the nation and society is self-evident. Therefore, Hung Hsiu-chu shared with the public her insights as a public figure who has personally participated in national affairs.

Legislative Yuan Deputy Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu's Public Interest Lecture: The Impact of Current Media Culture on the Nation and Society

Taiwan's media transformation has aspects that are proud and admirable, yet also regrettable and disappointing. Not only has the volume of negative news reporting increased, but leaked-information culture and reports that expose people's privacy have also clearly increased. Ang Lee once said that during the filming of "Life of Pi," "Every night when I watched TV, I felt Taiwan would be finished in another three months! When I watched Taiwanese television at night, all I saw was tearing apart and internal friction. It struck me deeply."

Legislative Yuan Deputy Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu further cited an article published in the highly renowned American professional journal Foreign Policy, which criticized: "Taiwan's media abuse press freedom, are sensationalist, cater to vulgar tastes, and are super bad, garbage, turning the viewing public into zombies." The article also criticized "many Taiwanese talking heads for using extremely dirty and vulgar language." The article's conclusion was: "Unless the viewing public's consumption habits change, Taiwan's next generation will have no choice but to continue enduring the 'fatiguing bombardment of brain-dead news.'" This is how foreign media used the harshest wording to criticize Taiwan's media; of course, we ourselves understand even better that this is only the tip of the iceberg; but it is already enough for everyone to use for self-reflection.

Legislative Yuan Deputy Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu stated that media reporting of news should originally convey information to the viewing public from a fair and objective angle. Whether it is concern for society or analysis of the meaning behind events, it must all have some degree of function in awakening the public. But now it is flooded with many "colored" reports, and some news that non-media outlets should broadcast is forcibly "manufactured" and "hyped" out, presented red-hot before the public, "and it is very hard for this not to have a negative impact on the public."

Deputy Speaker Hung said that from the government's perspective, the media should have the functions of "reflecting public opinion" and "serving as the fourth estate that supervises the government." It is by no means the government's mouthpiece; rather, it should truthfully and comprehensively present government policies, form broad discussion, criticize in a timely and appropriate manner, and lead an active moral role in areas such as governance, consumption, and people's livelihood.

But now more and more media outlets themselves carry political coloring, hold distinct positions, and "manufacture news" for the sake of ratings, readership, or achieving some goal. In addition, the media often uses the banner of "press freedom" without any regard for others' right to privacy. As long as they catch an opportunity, regardless of whether it is true or false, they report it massively, causing the parties involved a second, or even third, injury under trial by media. Judging from all these phenomena, the media has neglected the responsibility it must bear toward society.

Legislative Yuan Deputy Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu stated that when domestic media report information related to the legislature, most take the "excitingness" of specific event content and the "follow-up developments" as the appeal of hot topics, while neglecting that they should also frequently report legislators' attendance rates and legislators' bill proposal situations. More importantly, the media also has a duty to tell the people what degree of different impact the content of different bills will have. But unfortunately, media workers have often spoiled legislators' appetites, because if they do not put on a show and do not create gossip, they cannot get reported. Deputy Speaker Hung even joked, "This is the legislature under the lens."

When it comes to imbalanced reporting, this is also connected to the quality of the audience. Apart from sensational and sex-related news, the public has long been excessively fervent about politics and idolized political figures, making it very easy for media outlets with differing positions to manipulate them; green cannot see anything good about blue, and blue always says green is rotten. This also means that as long as media reporting locks onto the base of different political positions, it can profit from it.

Under this premise, the public's perception is poor, and the representativeness of public opinion is also deeply imperiled, forming the socially erroneous way of thinking that "high exposure means doing work." More seriously, many talented people regard entering the cabinet as a feared path, and this is a considerable hidden concern for Taiwan. Hung Hsiu-chu cited that Acer Group founder Stan Shih once said that political appointees are made stupid by the media, and that the governing team should be given space, otherwise all stakeholders, including the media, will be the ones to lose.

Under such chaos, the impact on governance is: policies please the public but are not grounded in the long-term future; there is no room for rational discussion of cross-strait policy, and differences in national identity harm the broad public. Finally, Deputy Speaker Hung again cited the words of Tzu Chi founder Master Cheng Yen as evidence: Taiwan has many stories of truth, goodness, and beauty, but the media is unwilling to report them. When media reporting stirs people's hearts, people's hearts will produce negative effects, and the media must bear great responsibility. "The media only reports massively on surface phenomena, shaping the 'falseness' of the whole society and making everyone gradually lose trust in Taiwan and in society. Media reporting must report the truth and guide toward what is right, use the power of the media in the right places, and open people's horizons; only then is it a blessing to the world."

Media reporting is biased and always creates a negative image of the government, but whether the government or the legislature's legislative quality can effectively respond to the needs of the majority of the people is also a question that must be considered. Only by appropriately adjusting the scale of legislative seats, eliminating the show-business nature, and using the media's supervisory power to do a good job of performance evaluation of legislators' performance can the problem be fundamentally solved.

Legislative Yuan Deputy Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu also expressed the hope that through the collective consciousness of the audience, the media can be prompted to reflect on itself. She hopes the media can fully report policy content on issues the public cares about and analyze the impact on Taiwan, no longer focusing on gossip and other sensational and sex-related news. In addition, strengthen reform of national education, especially in the area of humanistic cultivation, to reduce the possibility of "media fooling the people," so that people have their own judgment and thinking and no longer follow the media in dancing and drifting with the tide.

Legislative Yuan Deputy Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu Profile

Deputy Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu graduated from the Department of Law at Chinese Culture University and holds a master's degree in education from Northeast Missouri State University in the United States. She has served as: teacher and director of discipline and guidance and director of academic affairs at Xiufeng Junior High School and Banqiao Junior High School; counseling section chief at Huaqiao High School; head of the Women's Work Section of the Kuomintang Taipei County Party Committee; editor and reviewer of the Taiwan Provincial Party Committee; deputy director of the Youth Work Committee of the Central Party Committee; deputy director of the Women's Work Committee; deputy director of the Policy Committee's Legislative Yuan Work Committee; deputy chief executive officer of the Policy Committee; member of the Legislative Yuan from the 1st to the 7th terms; member of the Central Standing Committee of the Kuomintang; deputy secretary-general of the Kuomintang Central Committee and concurrently chairman of the Discipline Inspection Committee, among other positions. Current positions: Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Yuan, member of the Legislative Yuan for the 8th term, vice chairman of the Kuomintang, chairman of the Chinese Care for Disadvantaged Groups Love Alliance, chairman of the Republic of China World Folk Dance Association, chairman of the Republic of China Kidney Prevention and Treatment Foundation, president of the Legislative Yuan World Taiwanese Businesspeople Friendship Association, honorary chairman of the National Federation of the Republic of China Publishing Industry Associations, among other positions.

Hung Chun-pei Culture and Education Foundation 2014 Public Interest Lecture