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A new exhibition at the National Taiwan Museum explores how media shaped public opinion from the colonial era through martial law and democratization. Featuring more than 200 artifacts, the exhibit traces how governments used propaganda tools like radio, trains and newspapers, while pro-democracy activists later used underground publications and new technology to challenge authoritarian rule.

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00:13What you're hearing is The Voice of Taiwan, a telephone news program in the 1980s breaking
00:20the news of the Lin family murders in Taipei to Taiwanese listeners in the U.S. The broadcast
00:26sparked calls from overseas to oust the authoritarian government in Taiwan at the time. Radio, film
00:33and newspaper, it's these types of media that have exercised power and influence over people
00:39in Taiwan since colonial times and authoritarian rule. And it's also these types of media that
00:45were eventually used to subvert the government, as seen in a new exhibition at the National
00:51Taiwan Museum.
00:52I think the question is, that is, from the media and media, technology, technology,
00:57what we can understand in terms of the media and the media. We need to know how to understand
01:07the media, through the media and the media. We need to understand that.
01:12This is the case, which is really central to the media and technical issues.
01:21The exhibit displays over 200 pieces of government propaganda and civilian-made media,
01:27plus the technology behind it, telling the story of Taiwan's journey to democracy.
01:33Like this model of an anti-communist propaganda train,
01:36which ran through Taiwan in the 1950s to spread positive messaging
01:40about Chiang Kai-shek's government to local Taiwanese.
01:43And these old typewriters, used during the martial law period in the 70s and 80s
01:48to make some of Taiwan's underground anti-government newspapers
01:52that sustained communication for the 당wai, or outside-the-party movement.
01:57Those supporting the exhibition touched on how the advancement of technology in the 1980s
02:02helped share Taiwan's story with the world and challenged the authoritarian government at the time.
02:08But they also said technology nowadays can have malicious uses.
02:28Now, modern technology like the Internet have helped media spread even faster,
02:32like this Wi-Fi hotspot used to live stream the 2014 Sunflower Movement.
02:37By highlighting the shared use of these communication tools by both authoritarian governments
02:42and pro-democracy activists, the museum aims to remind visitors of the power these technologies had
02:48in controlling the narrative in the past
02:50and the role they play in influencing public opinion in the Taiwan we know today.
02:55Yixin Chen and Tiffany Wong in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.
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