TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Director General Thibaut Bruttin said politicized media reporting has resulted in a credibility crisis for journalism in Taiwan.

Bruttin visited Taiwan from Oct. 14-18 to celebrate the seventh anniversary of Reporters Without Borders’ Asia-Pacific office in Taipei, where he met with the president and government officials. Bruttin said Taiwan must address the lack of editorial independence in newsrooms to strengthen the media's credibility. 

In a recent op-ed he commented, “Taiwanese media too often neglect journalistic ethics for political or commercial reasons.” He added, “This credibility deficit for traditional media, a real Achilles heel of Taiwanese democracy, puts it at risk of being exploited for malicious purposes.”  

Only three in 10 Taiwanese say they trust the media according to a Reuters Institute survey conducted in 2022, one of the lowest percentages among democracies. Bruttin also cited another survey this year by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, which revealed only 33% of 2,011 respondents trusted most news most of the time in Taiwan.

Bruttin said this distrust gives influence to social media platforms such as Facebook and Line, even though they are filled with biased or false information. Taiwan was ranked the leading democracy in Asia by the Economist Intelligence Unit, but it is reportedly targeted the most by disinformation from abroad, mainly China, according to Varieties of Democracy.

To combat disinformation, Bruttin said Taiwan needs a “free, independent and plural media, prioritizing the public interest and conditioning the information it publishes on systematic verification of its sources.” He suggested five  areas for reform that would help Taiwan’s media gain public trust and ensure its survival against social media platforms.

First, Bruttin recommended the government adopt a framework that protects the independence of journalists vis-a-vis their employers. Second, he said to expand the National Communications Commission (NCC)’s mandate to regulate all media, including print, online news, and other platforms and allocate more resources.

Third, he said to increase public media budgets so that they can benefit from the same independence and visibility as private media. Fourth, the government should provide incentives and support media outlets that respect journalistic ethics, fact-checking, and public dialogue. Fifth, large digital platforms should be obliged to moderate reliable information sources.

Bruttin praised Taiwan’s media as free and robust. Taiwan ranked 27th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ 2024 World Press Freedom Index.

However, Bruttin added, "It's good that the media is free, but freedom is not necessarily something that sums up what journalism is. At RSF, we fight for free, independent and pluralistic media.”