Is ‘The Big Issue’ a charity? Can it help?

The Big Issue, a magazine to help the homeless, has hit the streets of Taiwan.  At the beginning of April, outside Long Shan temple, 30 homeless people wearing yellow waistcoats and carrying magazines made their way to various MRT stations to begin sales.  The Big Issue concept originates from Britain and is mainly targeted at the 20 to 35 year old market.  The magazine generally introduces fashionable products and the price is fixed at 100 NTD, 50 of which goes to the vendor in commission, to help them save some capital for the long road back to conventional life.  The real test for both the editors and vendors however will be how the magazine is received and whether sales reach an acceptable level or not.

Is ‘The Big Issue’ a charity? Can it help?  (by Civil Media, Taipei citizen journalist)
http://www.peopo.org/portal.php?op=viewPost&articleId=54396

(以下為中文對照)

The Big Issue的慈善？救贖？ (by 台北公民記者 公民行動影音紀錄資料庫 )

台灣出現第一份由遊民負責販售的刊物「The Big Issue」。四月初在台北市捷運龍山寺站有三十多名身穿黃色背心的遊民，帶著雜誌前往不同的捷運站販售。Big Issue的概念源於英國，鎖定20至35歲消費族群，雜誌內容多半介紹流行事物，在台灣一本雜誌售價100元，其中50元是遊民的利潤，讓他們開始積累 資本，未來可回歸生活軌道。但雜誌實際銷量如何，才是對編輯群與遊民的最大考驗。

Note:
From mid April 2010, PTS’s citizen news platform PeoPo will carefully select three topical stories from each week’s news and translate them into English. This will extend the range of the service further, allowing an even greater number of concerned citizens to keep up to date with all the breaking news, the whole length of Taiwan.

備註：
公共電視PeoPo公民新聞平台，為擴大服務範圍，將自2010年4月中旬開始，每周精選三則公民報導翻譯成英文摘要，讓更多關心公民新聞的朋友，可以透 過PeoPo平台瞭解台灣在地大小事。