Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai (
Within hours of hitting the newsstands yesterday, Next magazine was sold out.
The premier issue: Accusations from the jilted lover of Chao Chien-min (
PHOTO: REUTERS
On the magazine's cover was a photograph of Chao holding hands with fiancee Chen Ching-yu (
"The ex-girlfriend of the president's prospective son-in-law gives her inside story of a womanizer," the headline said.
In the story, the girlfriend accused Chao of dumping her to find someone who could help him advance his career.
Sensational, indeed. All 270,000 copies of the double-issue edition -- which contained other stories of political and business leaders, gangsters and TV entertainers with sensational paparazzi-style photographs -- sold out within four hours.
That followed an NT$120 million advertising campaign successful in creating a buzz about the publication. One ad plastered to the side of Taipei public buses shows two eyes on a woman's bare bottom. The accompanying title says: ``Adultery? Please watch out.''
Those who liked the magazine said yesterday the publication was doing a good job "upholding the people's right to know" by putting the lives of public figures under the microscope.
"We're entitled to know the real sides of politicians. We want to know whether their words match their deeds," one reader said.
But others criticized the magazine for invading the personal lives of public figures by choosing issues that have little public interest.
"Why do we need to know about the past romantic history of the future son-in-law of the president? It's entirely irrelevant to the welfare of the general public," said Liu Hui-ping (
Liu said that the media should report not on what people "want to know," but what readers "are entitled to know."
Ping Lu (
"Tabloid reporting is inevitable in a society where people tend to have a desire to poke and pry into other people's private affairs, but there is a limit to it," Ping said.
"If politicians intend to portray themselves as perfect characters during election campaigns, then it is the media's responsibility to expose their lies. Otherwise, I don't see the point of it," she said.
Other commentators said stiffer competition in the cutthroat world of media would probably lower the quality of journalism in the country.
Still, Chin Heng-wei (
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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