People in Taiwan are being brainwashed by the news media. News reports aren’t objective and are often reported in different ways based on a network’s political leaning.

The KMT (Kuomintang) and DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) are two major political parties in Taiwan and also dominate most of the media. Different political views in media force viewers to pick a political stance and receive messages from one political view.

Furthermore, when it comes to political issues, news is often reported very differently. Networks often give credit to the party they are in favor of and criticize the opposite party. However, there are also times when news organizations choose to neglect issues when one party takes most of the credit.

Cross-strait relations policies often create controversy between the two parties. The DPP supports Taiwan’s independence; the KMT advocates Taiwan remain the ROC (Republic of China). Therefore, reports on cross-strait relations often have opposite interpretations.

For example, the Sunflower Student Movement was supported by many DPP voters. Networks in favor of the DPP gave full support to the students and even called them heroes.

On the other hand, KMT-favoring outlets opposed the action; political talk shows even chose to talk about the students’ clothes rather than reporting on the actual issues.

The problem of media outlets refusing to report about certain issues has caused Taiwanese news to be filled with gossip, customer complaints, and car accidents.

It’s unbelievable how our news media, that has the fastest updates on car accidents, is then unable to analyze important international news.

The effect of political bias is also easily seen during elections. Each network often chooses data that shows their party’s candidate has more votes. Thus, there is often a huge gap between the candidates.

Moreover, many politicians use these networks as a platform to argue with each other about “important’ issues. However, it’s all just a show with a group of people who disagree about almost everything.

Political groups should keep their competitions out of news media. The audience not only has the right to know what’s happening but also has the right to receive the most accurate and unbiased information.