The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) threatened legal action after guests on a talk show criticized President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), but the party said it was only defending its reputation against political talk show guests and comments it regarded as departing from the truth, and was not taking action against media outlets themselves.
KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) made the remarks in response to a report published by the Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday that said the KMT would file a lawsuit against Formosa Television (FTV, 民視) over comments recently made on its political talk show Boss Talk (頭家來開講).
In its show on Thursday, the host, former Government Information Office minister Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉), and the show’s guests -discussed the Supreme Court’s latest ruling convicting former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife on bribery charges. The guests accused Ma and the KMT of interfering with the judiciary by vowing to lead a judicial reform and seeking to use the rulings to boost momentum in the upcoming elections.
The KMT sent a letter to FTV the next day, demanding that the TV channel clarify the remarks within three days or face legal action.
Prior to the FTV case, KMT -Honorary Chairman Wu Poh--hsiung (吳伯雄) brought a lawsuit against the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper), while King sued political commentator Chung Nien-huang (鍾年晃), who appears on a talk show on SET-TV (三立電視).
King said the statement was issued to FTV to demand guests on the show clarify their remarks and stop tarnishing the reputation of the party.
“The KMT needs to defend our reputation if the guests on the show make groundless accusations and smear the KMT. We are not aiming at the TV station,” he said.
King said the party continued to respect and support media outlets’ rights to monitor government performance and give advice, and agreed that it is the government’s obligation to accept such supervision from the media.
KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) on Friday accused FTV, SET-TV and the Liberty Times of holding extreme stances and attacking the KMT viciously in their news coverage.
King yesterday dismissed speculation that the KMT would take -action against the three media outlets following Hung’s remarks, and said the party is confident that voters would denounce any form of negative campaigning in the elections
When asked by the press for comment, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said the KMT, being the governing party, should have a bigger heart when responding to criticism.
The KMT should respect political commentators’ freedom of speech, DPP spokesperson Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) added.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG, CNA AND STAFF WRITER
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS