TITV to promote citizen reporting with indigenous partners

“Taiwan is the only WITBN member that has citizen reporters,” said Masao Aki, director of Taiwan Indigenous Television (TITV), which is under Taiwan's public broadcasting group, Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS).

“In the future, we will share our experience in setting up the citizen reporting platform and related technologies with other members,” he told the CNA on the sidelines of the biennial WITBN conference in southeastern Taiwan's Taitung County.

Masao also said that Sylvia Feng, president and chief executive of the Taiwan Broadcasting System, gave a presentation on TBS's citizen reporting at a WITBN meeting in Kyoto last year and the presentation won widespread recognition and interest from other members.

TBS launched the PeoPo citizen reporting service in 2007, with Mandarin being the main language and a few video clips in indigenous languages. The service includes texts, audio and video.

Masao made the remarks after he took over the two-year WITBN chairmanship from Maori Television Chief Executive Jim Mather of New Zealand.

He revealed that three media outlets from Sweden, Finland and Singapore plan to join the global alliance soon.

Masao also noted that the practice of sharing news and program content among WITBN members will continue.

It is the first time for TITV, which was established in December of 2004, and Public Television Services (PTS) to co-host the conference, the second of its kind. The conference features speeches on digital challenges and indigenous cultural identity for the digital era.

Senior executives from TITV and TBS, as well as those from eight WITBN members from Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, South Africa and Wales took part in the conference.

The first conference, at which the WITBN was established, was hosted by New Zealand's national indigenous Maori Television in 2008 in New Zealand, with the aim of promoting indigenous languages and culture worldwide.

At the opening ceremony, indigenous peoples from New Zealand and Taiwan dressed in traditional clothes sang to seek blessing from their ancestors.

More than 200 people attended the event, including Sun Ta-chuan, the head of Taiwan's top indigenous government agency Council of Indigenous Peoples, and Justin Huang, the magistrate of Taitung County.

A day earlier, the organizers held a dinner party near the seashore, featuring traditional Taiwanese indigenous food, songs and dances.

Taiwan has an indigenous population of over 500,000, accounting for 2 percent of the island's total population of 23 million. There are 14 indigenous tribes in Taiwan.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

PrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email