STATEMENT

Taiwan: Funding proposals endanger public media

7 August 2026

The Public Media Alliance (PMA) is deeply concerned by proposals before Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan to significantly cut the annual budget of Public Television Service (PTS), Taiwan’s public broadcaster.

Lawmakers are proposing to cut the budget of Public Television Service (PTS) by up to 30%, in a move that would undermine the broadcaster’s ability to fulfil its public service remit and weaken an essential cornerstone of Taiwan’s democratic society. The proposals would directly hit children’s, youth, drama, and cultural programming, with further suggestions that funding for Taiwan+, Taiwan’s first English-language streaming platform, could be eliminated entirely.

Taiwan+ has become an important channel for sharing Taiwan’s stories, culture, and democratic values with international audiences through independent journalism and high-quality public media content. Its closure, resulting from a lack of funding, would be a significant loss at a time of growing disinformation.

Public service media play an essential role in democratic societies. They provide trusted and independent journalism, hold power to account, reflect the diversity of the societies they serve, and ensure citizens have access to reliable information in the public interest, especially at times of crisis. Stable, long-term, and adequate funding is fundamental to that mission, and funding decisions should reflect the value public media provide — to domestic audiences and to international understanding alike.

As the budget review continues, we urge Taiwan’s legislature to reconsider the scale of these proposed reductions and to weigh the long-term cost to the sustainability, independence, and international reach of Taiwan’s public service media against any short-term budgetary savings.