Catching Spotlight at International Press Institute's World Congress 2011

Four years of PTS’s innovative media platform, PeoPo News, has caught the spotlight of IPI, who decided to choose Taipei as the site for the International Press Institute (IPI) World Congress 2011. This year’s congress boasted a special agenda focusing in on the development of citizen journalism, inviting celebrated senior media persons including Tom Wang, Radio Host and Novelist, Taipei, Taiwan; Leh-Chyun Lin, Director, International Department, PTS; Chen-Ling Hung, Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Journalism, National Taiwan University and Solana Larsen, Managing Editor, Global Voices. Speakers discussed the development of citizen journalism and shared the valuable operational experience at PeoPo. 

Solana Larsen, Managing Editor of Global Voices Online, said citizen journalists are in the process of making history, and called on traditional media to ponder deeply over their own role in the industry. She went on to say, traditional media shouldn’t merely cover stories but must find a way to create interaction and sharing, warning that if they fail to make inroads into communicating with citizen journalists then it would be extremely difficult to survive in this digital age. In summing up, she encouraged citizen journalists by saying, ‘Believe in what you feel is important, and you’ll be making history”.

Chen-Ling Hung, Associate Professor at the Graduate Institute of Journalism in National Taiwan University expressed that in her opinion, stories from Taiwanese citizen journalists had great weight and credibility, already surpassing that of the mainstream media. She continued that the effect of politics on Taiwanese life was extremely serious, and that the integrity of stories read in the newspapers or seen in the ‘business media’ had to be seriously questioned. She emphasized that citizen journalism in contrast had consistently came across as being more credible and authentic in times of disaster or other major happenings - citizen journalists appeared to be always on the scene, covering the stories that mattered.

In this digital era, the development of citizen journalism is an innovative new method of news transmission, and has literally sent shockwaves through the entire media establishment. It is clear that there are still many areas within citizen journalism that need work, however the speed of development and power of citizen journalism has been truly bewildering - these are the fruits of all the citizen journalists’ labor; the blood, sweat and tears that you have put in over the past few years. We look forward to working hard in the future together, voicing out through the power of the lens and demonstrating our love for this nation, once more attracting the spotlight onto Taiwan.