Public Television Service held the PTS 2023 International Symposium ‘Shaping our Future: PMS Digital Transformation & Governance’ at the Taipei International Convention Center on May 12th, 2023. Six other public media representatives were invited to discuss and share their international experience at this conference. Mr. Yaw-Shyang Chen, Chairman of the National Communications Commission (NCC), Ms. Sue Wang, Deputy Minister of Culture of the Ministry of Culture, and Mr. Yuan-Hui Hu, PTS Chairperson were invited to deliver opening remarks.
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Mr. Yaw-Shyang Chen, Chairman of the NCC stated in his remark how public media differs from commercial media. In addition to the rating requirements, it also focused on public welfare and promoted an understanding of the development of the country. Facing the advent of the digital age, digital transformation was a priory of both public media and commercial media, and it was also vital for survival. He also mentioned that Taiwan’s public media played the role of a digital leader, but due to limited funds, we needed to continue to work hard in the future, through cross-border exchanges like today’s seminar, sharing the development of public media in various countries, and let Taiwan learned from the experiences of the world.
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Ms. Sue Wang, Deputy, Ministry of Culture stated that changes in the form of media drove changes in content and continued to challenge the authenticity of public media. The public media played a crucial role in the value of democracy and freedom. The Ministry of Culture continued to support the development of Taiwan's public media and the TaiwanPlus - all-English Channel launched to share Taiwan's views and experiences and let the world see Taiwan. She promoted the progress of law amendments to allow public television to have more resources and independence to cope with the new era and to cope with the era of digital governance.
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Hu Yuanhui, Chairman of the PTS Foundation expressed his sincere appreciation to all speakers who came to share their experience in digital transformation in their organizations and expressed his gratitude to the participants for their support. He added, "The development of public media is a significant milestone for democracy."
Speakers invited to give the speeches included Dr. Wilasinee Phiphitkul, Thai PBS Director General (Thailand), Phil Hardman, SVP & GM, Asia, BBC Studios (UK), Dr. Sunwook Choi, Chief Strategy Officer, KBS (South Korea), Kristian Porter, Public Media Alliance CEO (PMA) and Udono Ryo, Senior Producer from NHK’s Content Programming & Distribution Center (Japan) and Kathrin Ruther, Projektleiterin, Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen - SRF (Switzerland).
The topic mainly discussed the experiences of digital transformation from participating broadcasters, including the challenges of the media landscape, the need for digital transformation, factors contributing to the success, and the impact of the transformation on public media.
Dr. Wilasinee, Thai PBS Director General shared about ko Thailand’s ever-changing media landscape and the audience behaviors that inevitably led Thai PBS to transform. The 3-year strategic plan with the goal to reach ‘Thai PBS Digital First’ in 2026 was discussed during the speech. However, she stated that even though Thai PBS’s direction is moving toward Digital First, being trustful media and creating impactful and meaningful content were still the priorities and obligations of Thai PBS. The practical use of digital media in Thailand’s general election reporting was also presented to the symposium’s audiences.
On this occasion, Radio Taiwan International and PTS Thai language news channel interviewed Dr. Wilasinee regarding Thai PBS digital transformation and its practical use in reporting Thailand’s General Election.
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More information on the Interview by Radio Taiwan International)
