Taiwan’s recall drama has now entered its second wave. In the trough between these political swells — a moment when observers can pause and take stock — a media issue rose to the surface this past week: neutrality (中立).
The Reporter (報導者), one of the country’s most respected independent outlets, published a video [below] on July 22 by producer Fang Jun-zhu (方君竹) discussing the recalls, featuring interviews with targeted lawmakers and civic group members who initiated the recall campaigns. The video has so far gathered close to a million views, but some users on Threads have criticized the report as an example of “fake neutrality” (假中立). Anti-recall perspectives in the video comprised just 20 percent of the content, they said, questioning whether The Reporter was too closely aligned with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
“I must say, I feel really disappointed,” one YouTube viewer commented. “I originally expected The Reporter to provide a balanced, rational discussion space that would present the viewpoints and context of both sides of the recall issue. Instead, the entire video almost completely adopts the recall side’s narrative, with very little mention of the other side’s viewpoints, completely losing the impartiality that media should have.”
Some criticism on the same grounds also turned to foreign media coverage of the story, with some alleging that international coverage was too strongly influenced by the DPP, including labeling Kuomintang lawmakers as “pro-China” (親中) or “China-friendly” (友中). American lawyer Ross Feingold (方恩格), who lives in Taiwan, posted to Facebook on July 27 that the DPP and recall groups had “convinced foreign media to headline that the KMT is a pro-China party.” In an interview with Storm Media (風傳媒), Feingold argued that the generally “anti-China” stance of the international media, combined with an easy acceptance of DPP narratives, led them to frame recall results through the oversimplified lens of whether or not candidates were “pro-China.” International media coverage of Taiwan, he said, was “mostly not neutral” (大部分不中立).
