Mass Media

Chains of spacious bookstores have become popular sales outlets for books and magazines targeted at different audiences.

The rapid development of the Internet has dramatically changed media markets in Taiwan. Print media have gone online, with several newspapers bringing not just the daily printed news but also breaking news, while magazines lure readers with free access to selected articles in each issue. Book publishers and bookstores have established online bookstores to reduce overhead and offer round-the-clock service. Radio and television stations are also reaching out to the growing population of Netsurfers, with streaming audio and video broadcasts of news, music, and drama.

News Agencies

Taiwan’s news agencies are concentrated in Taipei and are generally small, focusing mainly on economic and financial news. They serve the print and electronic media, government agencies, financial organizations, the industrial and commercial sectors, and local schools.

The oldest and largest news agency is the Central News Agency (CNA) 中央通訊社, which has 15 departments operating on a 24-hour basis and over 30 overseas offices. CNA files stories in both Chinese and English on Taiwan and Asian affairs, political events, and economic news from major areas around the world.

CNA provides complete domestic, overseas Chinese, and international services, and supplies on average 280,000 words daily of general news to all newspapers and radio and TV stations in Taiwan. Its economics and financial wire transmits another 2.5 million words daily to business-oriented clients. In its service to over 100 Chinese-language newspapers worldwide, CNA provides daily information on domestic events and feature stories, keeping overseas compatriots informed of daily news in Taiwan and other parts of the world. CNA also offers general English-language and Spanish-language news to foreign media.

Newspapers

Although news coverage in Taiwan is professional and in-depth with specialized reporting, the newspaper industry has been adversely affected by the recent economic slowdown, rising cost of paper, high penetration of cable television, and rapid proliferation of the Internet. Most newspapers are now available online.

The Chinese-language morning newspaper market is dominated by three general-interest dailies, the China Times 中國時報, the United Daily News 聯合報, and the Liberty Times 自由時報. The evening newspaper market is dominated by the China Times Express 中時晚報 and the United Evening News 聯合晚報.

While Taipei’s major papers provide extensive coverage of national issues and approach the news more objectively, local dailies based in Kaohsiung─such as the Commons Daily 民眾日報 and the Taiwan News 台灣新聞報─reflect a stronger sense of the local identity of the southern Taiwanese. Aggressive and provocative, the Kaohsiung press places a heavy emphasis on political news and the culture, literature, and history of southern Taiwan.

Taiwan’s English-language newspaper market has three papers: The China Post, Taiwan News, and Taipei Times. The Government Information Office (GIO) 新聞局 publishes the Taiwan Journal (TJ) in English once a week and in Spanish every ten days. TJ can also be accessed via the Internet.

Magazines

Over the last five years, several magazine groups have emerged in the media market. These include the Wealth 財訊 group with financial periodicals, the Business Weekly Media group 商周集團 with women’s and fitness magazines, the Commonwealth 天下 group with financial and health magazines, and the Studio Classroom 空中英語教室 group with periodicals for English-language students.

Financial magazines remain popular among Taiwan’s readers. CommonWealth 天下雜誌 is respected for its excellent business image and coverage of macroeconomic trends and modern management concepts. Wealth 財訊 is considered a “must read” by many stock investors, entrepreneurs, and politicians because of its insightful articles.

Despite the economic downturn, automobile magazines such as Option 改裝車訊 and Car News 一手車訊, as well as women’s magazines such as Baby and Mother 嬰兒與母親 and Bella 儂儂, have continued to earn high advertising revenues. Taiwan’s flourishing computer industry has also generated a vast assortment of computer magazines aimed at beginners, advanced PC users, video game players, industrialists, and even procurement personnel. Popular titles include PC Home 電腦家庭 for beginners, Computerworld 環球資訊新聞 for industrialists, PC Office 電腦上班族 for office personnel, and PC Gamer 電腦玩家 for game players.

Bilingual periodicals and magazines provide an interesting way for Taiwanese readers to learn a foreign tongue. The more popular periodicals in this category include Studio Classroom, Ez Talk 美語會話誌, and Let’s Talk in English 大家說英語. Other widely circulated bilingual magazines in Taiwan include the Taiwan Review (available in English, German, Russian, and Spanish editions) and Sinorama 光華 (available with English or Japanese texts juxtaposed with Chinese).

Books

Many of Taiwan’s 2001 bestsellers were related to either movie or television productions screened during the year. Sales of The Hooligan Professor 流氓教授 by Lin Jian-long 林建隆 and Big Hospital Small Doctor 大醫院小醫師 by Hou Wun-yong 侯文詠 increased after they were adapted for television. Several books based on Korean soap operas were also released, a sign of the rising popularity of imported TV productions among Taiwanese audience.

The year’s bestsellers, however, were the Chinese editions of two books from the Harry Potter series, with 500,000 copies for the first printing of The Prisoner of Azkaban and 600,000 copies for The Goblet of Fire. The translation of Bridget Jones’s Diary also sold well because of the movie, and high expectations for the second installment of the Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, which was screened in 2002, also led to excellent sales of the printed work in 2001.

Other popular non-literary works included books on mastering English and attaining success. Books on domestic travel─including specialized publications on Taiwan’s hot spring resorts, theme parks, and other outdoor activities, as well as maps and guides to rural communities catering to different consumer interests─also sold well.

The introduction of e-commerce into Taiwan in recent years has not only resulted in the establishment of many online bookstores, but also led to the emergence of a new generation of writers creating works specifically for the Internet. Despite this trend, however, most writers have had little success with their online endeavors.

Radio

Prior to 1993, there were only 33 radio broadcasting companies in Taiwan. As of October 2003, the number had increased to 155, and another 19 were under construction. Radio broadcasting in Taiwan includes regular domestic programming by medium-wave AM and VHF FM stations, medium- and short-wave broadcasts to China, and specialized programming via short-wave transmissions to other countries. Programs in various Chinese dialects and English are also available. Most radio stations in Taiwan focus exclusively on a particular specialty area, such as current news, light music, traffic updates, stock market reports, or agricultural news.

The Central Broadcasting System 中央廣播電臺 operates a variety network and a news network in Mandarin; a dialect network that is broadcast in five dialects; and the Radio Taipei International 臺北國際之聲 and the Voice of Asia 亞洲之聲, which broadcast in 12 foreign languages.

The Broadcasting Corporation of China 中國廣播公司, the pioneer of Taiwan’s radio industry, operates a variety network and six specialized networks offering popular music, national news, industrial and commercial services, educational and religious programs, stock market reports, and programs in the Minnanese閩南語 and Hakka dialects.

The government-run Public Radio System (PRS) 警察廣播電臺 specializes in traffic reports and social services. PRS operates a national traffic network with updates on traffic conditions of Taiwan’s freeways and highways; a regional traffic network of five FM and two AM stations devoted to news on local traffic and weather conditions around the island; and an evergreen network of five AM stations with medical, health, travel, legal, and governmental policy information.

Other popular radio stations in Taiwan include Philharmonic Radio Taipei 臺北愛樂廣播電臺, which offers everything from classical and pop to jazz and prenatal music; and Voice of Taipei 臺北之音, which targets listeners in the 25-40 age group with music from the 1980s through the late 1990s, news on the hour, and short industrial news sessions.

International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT) is Taiwan’s only predominantly English-language radio station. Its FM broadcasts include popular Western music, talk shows, and community service segments.

Television

Taiwan television made its debut in February 1962 when the experimental National Education Television began broadcasting two hours of educational programming daily. This was followed by the establishment of Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV) 臺灣電視公司 in 1962, China Television Company (CTV) 中國電視公司 in 1969, Chinese Television System (CTS) 中華電視臺 in 1971, Formosa Television (FTV) 民間全民電視臺 in 1997, and the Public Television Service (PTS) 公共電視臺 in 1998.

Taiwan’s terrestrial TV stations are being seriously threatened by cable TV, which continues to gain viewers and advertising receipts. Intense pressure to preserve market share has forced terrestrial TV to improve its programming and technical facilities. As of October 2003, 70 cable systems were offering their services throughout Taiwan.

Taiwan’s cable penetration rate is about 75 percent, with cable systems usually offering subscribers a set package of over 70 channels at a fixed monthly rate of no more than US$20. These channels include news and information, movies, cartoons, religious programs, sports, music, and a variety of other entertainment programming. As of October 2003, a total of 59 domestic and 20 foreign companies were offering 89 and 39 satellite channels, respectively, including a number of foreign channels and groups of specialized, satellite-based channels operated by local media conglomerates.

The Public Television Service is an independent, non-profit station established to serve the interests of the public, raise the standards of Taiwan’s broadcast culture, safeguard the people’s freedom of expression and access to knowledge, and enhance national education and culture. PTS offers a rich diversity of distinct, high-quality programs for different age groups, ranging from children to senior citizens, as well as minority groups, including indigenous peoples and those with hearing impairments. PTS also introduces Taiwan folk customs and traditional local operas; broadcasts music, dance, and theatrical performances; produces special programs on Taiwan’s environment, ecology, and related issues; and records social changes and historical events.

Motion Pictures

Taiwan’s film industry has recently produced a number of creative works exploring the island’s social development and humanitarian concerns. These themes have not only distinguished the works from other types of commercial films, but also earned them much recognition at international film exhibitions. Despite the recognition, however, these artistic movies─known as New Wave Cinema─have not been very successful at reversing the decline of the local motion picture industry, which began to weaken in the 1990s due to reductions in investment, unconventional filmmaking styles, and an inability to compete with expensive, big-budget foreign films. In 2002, the domestic film industry released 21 new films, which were screened at 666 theaters operated by 185 motion picture screening establishments.

The government’s Domestic Film Guidance Fund 國片輔導金 continues to provide investment funding for high-quality domestic films. In 2002, a total of US$1.4 million was set aside to finance 50 percent of the production costs of local films, with a maximum stipend of US$700,000 per film.

In 2002, several Taiwanese movies won awards at major international film festivals, including The Rule of the Game 挖洞人, directed by He Ping 何平, which won the Don Quixote Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Special Jury Award at the Asian Pacific Film Festival; and Fan Jhih-wei 范植偉, who won the Best Actor Award at the Nantes International Film Festival for his role in Brave 20 鹹豆漿.

In order to promote domestic films in the global market, the GIO has worked with foreign film organizations to sponsor Taiwan Film Festivals overseas. Domestically, the GIO works with the local film industry to plan exclusive screenings of domestic productions. The GIO also hosts the annual Golden Horse Awards 金馬獎, which recognizes outstanding Chinese-language films in a number of categories, including features, shorts, documentaries, and animation.