TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Twenty-three online media outlets united Monday (Sept. 1) to launch the Taiwan Alliance for Self-Regulation of Online News (台灣網路新聞自律聯盟, TASON), aiming to redefine media values and rebuild public trust. The initiative adopts five guiding principles to safeguard Taiwan's online journalism freedom through commitments to facts, professionalism, self-regulation, transparent oversight, and digital accountability.
Lin Chin-ch'un (林妏純), editor-in-chief of ETtoday News Cloud (ETtoday新聞雲), leads the alliance as convener. Vice conveners include Chuang Shuang-hung (莊勝鴻), director of Hakka Radio (講客廣播電台), Ch'en Ju-jen (陳俍任), editor-in-chief of Business Today (今周刊), and Liu Shih-tse (劉世澤), editor-in-chief of SET News Channel (三立新聞網). Lin stated in a prerecorded video that news value should not be limited to click rates, emphasizing the alliance's mission to rebuild media value.
Chan I-i (詹怡宜), an associate professor at National Taiwan University (台大) and the former head of TVBS News, chairs the alliance's advisory committee. She emphasized that freedom requires self-regulation to flourish effectively. Public Television Service (公視) Chairman Hu Yuan-hui (胡元輝) stressed self-regulation's importance over external regulation while noting journalists' significant societal role.
TASON's core mission involves media self-discipline to safeguard quality news and public discussion by merging internal governance with external civic oversight. The alliance plans establishing a multi-stakeholder governance platform, enhancing news quality and credibility through institutionalized self-regulatory principles and transparent complaint mechanisms. The initiative underscores media's fourth estate role while advocating self-regulation and complaint channels to broaden audience reach. ◼