Small Talk：

According to news reports, during the review of the fiscal year 2026 general budget, the Legislative Yuan proposed to slash and freeze over NT$1 billion in funding donated to Taiwan Public Television Service (PTS).

In fact, last year’s PTS budget was also once targeted by certain lawmakers with a proposal to cut NT$2.3 billion, an initiative that was only dropped after facing heavy public backlash.

In my opinion, anyone who has watched PTS programming would quickly realize that it is a truly high-quality broadcasting station. According to the newly released Digital News Report 2026 , public trust in Taiwan's overall news media stands at just 25% (Fig.1), far below the overall average (37%). In contrast, trust in PTS reaches as high as 54% (Fig.2), ranking it first among all news channels.

In response to this situation, Minister of Culture Yuan Li expressed his frustration, questioning why PTS becomes the target of such attacks every time the budget is reviewed.

Frankly, I don't understand it either.

Fig.1 Public trust in Taiwan's overall news media stands at only 25%

Fig.2 Public trust in Taiwan PTS reaches as high as 54%

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