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Taiwan: International Media Forum Begins in Taipei

Posted on: Wednesday, 27 July 2005, 06:00 CDT

Text of report in English by Taiwanese newspaper Taipei Times website on 27 July

While the last decade has seen a tremendous rise in alternative online media such as blogs, the mainstream corporate media - especially TV - has continued to exert a dominant political influence in the US and Taiwan, said speakers at the opening of an international media conference yesterday.

Douglas Kellner, the George Kneller Chair in the Philosophy of Education at UCLA, said that media reform and a thriving alternative media are critical to preserving democracy in the face of powerful corporate forces.

Kellner, who has authored books on social theory, politics, history and culture, made that point in the keynote speech at the International Association for Media and Communication Research 2005 (IAMCR) conference in Taipei. Kellner is also known for the blog he created, "Blog Left: Critical Inventions Warblog."

Kellner said that convergent trends in US media and politics have seriously undermined US democracy. The trends he mentioned include increased corporate control of mainstream media, the culture of media spectacle and the rise of a right-wing Republican media propaganda and attack apparatus.

With regard to the first trend, he said that because the mainstream media is "subservient" to corporate interests, the result is a "crisis in journalism" as media tend more and more to the bottom line and neglect more serious issues.

"The mainstream corporate media often like to follow the sensation of the moment and rarely engage in the sort of investigative journalism that was once the ideal, and that now takes place largely in the alternative sphere," Kellner said.

One of the examples he gave in the speech to prove the fact that mainstream media are no longer doing strong investigative work is an astonishing story, uncovered by bloggers, about the White House press corps. Bloggers found that the Bush administration had given press credentials to a fake journalist who was frequently called upon by Bush Administration press secretary Scott McClellan when questioning got too hot to handle.

"Over the past decade, the investigative function of traditional journalism has largely fallen to alternative media such as the internet and blogs," Kellner said.

He believes that a democratic social order can only be maintained when the mainstream media can assume the function of discussing issues of public concern and social problems from a variety of viewpoints and fostering spirited public debate.

While lauding alternative media's function in that regard, Kellner reminded the participants of its limitations.

"Much of the world is not yet wired, many people do not even read. The type and quality of information varies tremendously, depending on an individual's access and ability to properly interpret and contextualize it," Kellner said.

In addition, the internet is a contested terrain with progressive, reactionary and corporate forces using the technology for their conflicting agendas, he said.

"In a short time, one can easily access an exotic witches' brew of websites," from those maintained by the Ku Klux Klan to neo- Nazis to the Republican attack machine, he said.

Kellner concluded his speech by saying that the ongoing critique of mainstream corporate media should be linked with efforts at reforming and developing alternative media.

"For without adequate information, intelligent debate, criticism of the established institutions and parties and meaningful alternatives, democracy is but an ideological phantom, without life or substance," Kellner said.

Kellner's opinions was echoed by Diane Ying , publisher and editor-in-chief of Commonwealth magazine.

The situation in Taiwan is quite similar to that in the US, Ying said.

"The growing interest of conglomerates in owning and buying media is also a challenge facing Taiwan as they want to enhance their business interests and peddle their interests," Ying said.

Ying said that media can be a business but it shouldn't be strictly a money-making endeavour. It should also be a cultural enterprise that bears a social responsibility.

IAMCR, established in 1957, is an international professional organization in the field of media and communication research. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) was the main initiator of IAMCR, and the two bodies still maintain a formal consultative relationship.

It is the first time for Taiwan to host an IAMCR conference. With the theme "Media Panics: Freedom, Control and Democracy in the age of globalization," the aim of this year's conference, which runs through tomorrow, is to discuss how the media and communication environment are governed in the age of globalization.

IAMCR 2005 attracted more than 200 researchers and journalists from about 30 countries to Taipei and more than 300 conference papers will be published, said Lucie Cheng , dean of the college of journalism and communications at Shih Hsin University, the conference organizer.

Source: BBC Monitoring Media

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