Recommended website #2: Taipei Times
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Of Taiwan's three English-language daily newspapers the Taipei Times is by far the best both in print and on the web. While the website is a bit dated in its design it is clean and easy to read. All the articles from the print edition of the paper go online at midday (Taiwan time) every day.
A great feature of the website is that all the articles dating back to 1999 are archived and freely available. This makes the website a great place for researching Taiwan's recent history. The site also has an RSS feed so you can easily keep up to date with the latest headlines.
The photo news section displays all the photos published in the paper. There are often some very interesting photos, but sometimes these appear with only a short caption and no background story.
The Taipei Times is the sister paper of the Chinese-language Liberty Times (自由時報), Taiwan's most popular daily newspaper (it may have recently been overtaken by the Apple Daily in sales). The editorials in both papers generally favour the Pan-Green Coalition (DPP and pro-independence parties).
In some ways it offers an antidote to the biased coverage in just about every other media outlet. However, the best analysis (in English) of Taiwan's political situation these days can be found on a number of excellent blogs. I suggest Taiwan Matters, a group blog on Taiwan politics, as a good place to start reading.
Recommended website #3: Pinyin.info
Recommended website #1: Central Weather Bureau
Recommended website #5: Wild at Heart
Recommended website #4: Teaching English in Taiwan
Reading about Taiwanese History
Posted: September 18th, 2006 under Blogs & websites, News & media, Taiwan.
Tags: recommended website, taipei times
Comments
Comment from davidreid
Time 19 September 2006 at 2:28 pm
I think one of the reasons is that Taiwan is so poorly reported on in both the Taiwanese and international media. There is a lot of pro-KMT and pro-China bias and, in the case of the international media, they often just get it totally wrong.
Its also interesting to note that although the bloggers may have vastly different ideas about politics in their home countries, they have a fairly unified position about Taiwan. I think it is because they have a basic desire for democracy and justice. Also Taiwanese politics is not very ideologically driven apart from the Taiwan/China issue.
Comment from Prince Roy
Time 19 September 2006 at 7:29 pm
It’s a stretch to argue that international media is pro-KMT, and certainly so to argue it is ‘pro-China’.
I wonder if the expat community’s views are really so unified, or if it’s just that some are considerably more vocal. Are pan-green expats just more likely to blog? Is there an online pro-blue foreign voice?
To imply that only pan-green 老外 ‘have a basic desire for democracy and justice’ is a somewhat loaded statement. I may be reading too much into that, but I interpret ‘fairly unified position’ as meaning most foreign bloggers are pan-green.
Comment from davidreid
Time 20 September 2006 at 7:05 am
I only know of one pro-KMT English blog, Taiwan’s Other Side. I think its fair to say that amongst Taiwan bloggers there is a strong pro-Taiwan sentiment.
I realise that amongst foreigners more generally there is a diversity of opinion. I don’t really know enough people, nor have I ever conducted some kind of survey, to quantify who believes what.
Comment from Mark
Time 20 September 2006 at 10:48 pm
I for one prefer not to blog about all the petty political squabbles here. That said, I detest the Taipei Times. I find it to be one of the shrillest and most biased news sources I’ve ever read in my life… in any country. As with the article about a local test for foreigners learning Chinese, many articles in that paper are completely out of touch with reality.
My dislike for the Taipei Times isn’t due to my political views, either. I have very little respect for any of the major political parties in Taiwan, or those in my own country for that matter. I just want the news.
Comment from davidreid
Time 20 September 2006 at 11:05 pm
I realise the Taipei Times is less than perfect, but it is still better than the alternatives.
Politics aside I find that both the China Post and the Taiwan News are so badly designed that they are almost painful to read. The Taipei Times does have a very clean easy to read lay out. This is true of both the website and the paper.
It also does a slightly better job of reporting local news, but the coverage could be vastly improved.
Comment from Brian
Time 30 October 2007 at 4:03 pm
I find that the Taipei Times is very selective about the articles it chooses to publish on its website. Any article that makes the DPP look bad are nowhere to be found. It may be well laid-out, but what use is good layout without it be a good source of news and information? It is a news website and thus should contain all relevant news and information about Taiwan.
Comment from Prince Roy
Time 18 September 2006 at 11:23 pm
I read Taiwan Matters every now and then, but it would be better if it were more objective. This is what the Taiwan blog scene really lacks as far as I can tell, particularly among the foreigner blogs. I find it quite fascinating that foreigners on Taiwan often maintain such strident views towards domestic Taiwanese politics, a system in which they have no real stake or voice. In some ways, they outdo the locals.