The nation's reporters, known for occasional aggressive behavior toward visiting officials and celebrities at CKS International Airport, will no longer have access to the airport's restricted areas, Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) said yesterday.
Visiting celebrities -- most famously Elton John in 2004 -- have been shocked by the antics of highly competitive reporters, photographers and cameramen at the airport.
Visits by senior officials traveling through CKS airport are also sometimes shrouded in secrecy.
PHOTO: YAO KAI-SHIOU, TAIPEI TIMES
"Itineraries of important foreign political figures and local officials are often confidential and they do not want their schedules to be exposed at the airport," Lee said.
"Clashes between reporters and visiting entertainers in the past also hurt the country's image," he said.
The ministry will stop issuing restricted area passes for reporters from March 1, Lee said, adding that the government's decision to cancel permits allowing journalists to be stationed at the airport was not aimed at "clamping down on press freedom," but in line with international practice.
Starting next month, media outlets will have to apply for approval in advance for reporters and photographers to cover a story at CKS airport, and authorities will handle applications on a case-by-case basis, he said.
A dozen reporters who are stationed at the airport wore masks yesterday to protest the ban.
"The government's decision takes away our right to cover news," said Tony Yao (
Elton John swore at reporters who swarmed around him at the airport, calling them "rude, vile pigs," while fellow British singer Robbie Williams was chased through the terminal when he arrived for a concert in 2001. In 2003, Corsican singer Alizee had to hide in a bathroom to evade the press. She canceled her schedule the next day and returned to France.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS