China objects to Indian Media’s ‘National Day of Taiwan’ reportage
China and Taiwan have strained relations. China considers Taiwan as a part of its territory and as a breakaway province, which it wants to reclaim under its ‘One China’ policy. This policy states that there is only one China and Taiwan is a part of it. Taiwan, however, considers itself as a sovereign state.
They have their own constitution, democratically elected leaders, and army. Taiwan celebrated its ‘National Day of Taiwan’ on October 10th. China asked Indian media to not recognize Taiwan by reporting and covering its National Day.
The Ministry of External Affairs, India, reminded China that “There is free media in India and reports as it sees fit”. Indian media covered Taiwan’s National Day which made Taiwan very happy and China not so happy. So, what is free media? If media is free, does that means it can cover anything without any responsibility? Of course not.
Under the Constitution of India, Article 19 A, freedom of media is a part of the freedom of speech. But this freedom is not absolute (without limits). The role of media is to provide truthful and unbiased information to people so that they can form their own opinion. e.g. You are covering your school’s Annual Day. Your friend is doing a solo dance at the event. Now, responsible and fair media coverage would be to cover the event with no bias. Write about all the highlights and mention all the oversights. Treat each performance equally and cover it fairly. A bad example of news coverage would be to highlight your friend’s performance and omit all the oversights.
