[Taiwan News] Reporters Without Borders condemns Taiwan president’s failure to respect press independence

(Taiwan News) – Reporters Without Borders, an organization aims to safeguard press freedom and promote human rights, issued a statement on Dec. 17 with a topic of “Public media threatened, despite government denials” to voice concerns for the suppression of Taiwan media workers’ freedom of speech by the government, condemning President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) failure to respect press independence. (more)

[Taipei Times] EDITORIAL: Hollow promises of media freedom

Reporters Without Borders, an NGO devoted to press freedom, issued a statement on Wednesday saying that despite recent assurances to the contrary from President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), it was concerned that media independence in Taiwan remains under threat from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government.

The statement highlighted KMT attempts to control the programming of Public Television Service (PTS). The party’s legislators have proposed that PTS would require item-by-item approval from the Government Information Office (GIO) for all budget matters.

The KMT’s “campaign to reaffirm its influence over the public TV stations seems to have strengthened,” the statement read, before urging the president “to set up mechanisms that guarantee media independence.” (more)

[Taipei Times] Watchdog still concerned about media interference

Despite President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) denial in a letter to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the international press freedom watchdog is concerned that the independence of the nation’s media is threatened and has urged the Ma government to refrain from manipulating the media.

“Taiwan should be a press freedom model in Asia and the independence of the public media is one of the key components of a free and diverse press system,” the group said in a statement released on Wednesday. “We want to believe in President Ma’s promises, but they must be translated into action.” (more)

Demonstrations in Taiwan in the Press

[Taiwan News] Social groups in Taiwan protest KMT’s attempt to interfere in PTS operations

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The opposition Democratic Progressive Party yesterday returned the proposal made by ruling Kuomingtang Policy Committee Chief Executive Lin Yi-shih (林益世) to the Legislative Procedural Committee. Lin’s proposal to amend the Public Television Act to increase number of board member of Public Television Service has met protests by PTS employees, visual workers, Association of Taiwan Journalists (AJT) among 63 social groups for the ruling party’s attempt to intervene in PTS operations. ...


[Taipei Times] Scores of civic groups rally in support of Public Television Service

More than 60 civic organizations staged a protest outside the Legislative Yuan yesterday, demanding the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus reconsider a proposal on controlling the budget for Public Television Service (PTS). The KMT caucus froze the NT$450 million (US$13.5 million) budget for PTS for the second half of this year and has come up with a proposal that all programming budget be approved by the Government Information Office (GIO) first.

The proposal has drawn criticism from the opposition, civic groups, filmmakers and academics, who called it a KMT attempt to control the media. ...


[Taipei Times] Crowd condemns violence ahead of hearing

Accompanied by hundreds of supporters, three women who have filed lawsuits against the police for allegedly beating them during anti-China protests last month, marched to the Taipei District Court for their first court hearing yesterday. “Our judicial system is not perfect, but we still have some expectations of it. That's why we're trying to seek justice through the judiciary against police abuses,” Judicial Reform Foundation executive director Lin Feng-cheng (林峰正) told a crowd gathered at Liberty Square in support of the complainants before marching to the courthouse a few blocks away. ...