This article shows how unreliable the media can be. The fact that even Taiwan’s leading TV news channel TVBS reported news that are untrue reminded viewers that even news programme which are assumed to be reliable by most people, can actually be inaccurate as well. The lack of professionalism by news journalists due to the aggressive competition between news channels is getting more common and the reporting standards are decreasing greatly as the news station cares more about hitting sky-high ratings rather than having quality news which defeats the real purpose of broadcasting news. I feel that this incident has portrayed not only the lack of professionalism but also the lack of social responsibility by betraying the trust of the viewers and making them believe in something that is made up which could have affected some of the locals. Even the police force has wasted time, effort and resources in investigating the video. This shows that it is extremely irresponsible of the journalist to ignore these consequences and still go on with the filming of the video.
It is really sad to know that news reports which are supposedly known to be reliable are becoming more and more doubtful. It becomes difficult to decide whether to believe what is reported on the news.
Stricter laws and legislations should be made to prevent news stations from reporting fake “stories” and to start regaining the trust of viewers. However, I feel that even if it is so, it is never impossible to ensure that ALL the news stations broadcasts the most accurate news, hence the doubt on the accuracy on news reports will stay for long.
