A critique of 三立 新台灣論壇

I hope 三立 新台灣論壇 become more useful.

新台灣論壇 routinely invites both KMT and non-KMT people as panelists. Examples are 紀國棟, 戴錫欽, 陳明義, 程金蘭, 陳立宏, 吳國棟. 新台灣論壇's anchorwomen rarely interrupt the panelists when they speak. The panelists speak for a long time, in effect giving a lecture each time he or she speaks with no interruption from other panelists or the anchor. Even when a panelist says something that should be challenged, there is little of that happening. It appears 新台灣論壇 is giving panelists a chance to speak, nothing more.

What would be far more useful is to turn the program into a civilized dialog between people of different ideas. Instead of the current practice, the anchor could tell panelist to be brief when they speak and be prepared to answer questions succinctly to other panelists and the anchor. They should expect to be interrupted courteously when they speak.

Why is this desirable?

• No such program exists yet in Taiwan.
• Such program hopefully sets a good example for others to follow.
• The most important is to educate people to justify what they say. When a panelist says something iffy, we stop him cold and ask him or her to justify. If this can happen, if people are educated to think, it is a good insurance that people will not elect someone like Ma in the future.