The Independence Evening Post, the country's oldest evening newspaper, will walk into history and is expected to issue its last copy tomorrow, the paper's editorial department announced yesterday.
The paper is ceasing publication because it is running out of printing paper and the newspaper's delivery people are on strike after failing to get paid for months, an employee said.
On July 26, a new team was introduced to take over the cash-strapped newspaper from former chairman Wang Shih-chien (王世堅). But the changing of the guard has failed to save the paper from closing down.
When taking charge, the new team claimed to have amassed NT$150 million to run the paper. But according to a manager at the paper, who declined to be named, the financial situation under the new regime never appeared favorable because some financial supporters decided to bail out after discovering the paper's deplorable financial condition.
Labor problems intensified two weeks ago when the paper's union filed a lawsuit against Wang and Chang Fu-tai (張福泰), the paper's new chairman, for embezzling NT$8 million in workers' insurance fees and failing to issue paychecks in July and August.
Unwilling to assume responsibility, Chang claimed that his chairmanship was invalid because the process of electing him was flawed. He has stayed out of the business ever since.
The manager told the Taipei Times that Chang had invested more than NT$10 million in August, but he refused to contribute more because of a lack of other financial backers.
Since the dispute broke out in mid-September, most of the paper's managers have left and the workers' union has been taking charge of the paper's operation. Originally published with 20 pages, the paper has been cut down to eight and most of its content is aimed at attacking management for, in the union's words, their "irresponsibility." The circulation has shrunk from 45,000 copies to 2,000.
There are 240 employees at the Post, who cost the paper NT$18 million per month.
The manager said that the paper is running out of money and printing paper. It costs NT$500,000 every three days to keep the paper running.
On Saturday, a board meeting to discuss the paper's future and the employees' working rights was aborted because of the union's protest.
Founded in 1947, the Post was the first paper in the country to advocate "independence from political parties" during a time when Taiwan was under martial law.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it has lodged a protest with Pretoria after the name of the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa was changed to the “Taipei Commercial Office” on the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s (DIRCO) Web site. In October last year, the South African government asked Taiwan to relocate the Taipei Liaison Office, the nation’s de facto embassy, out of Pretoria. It later agreed to continue negotiating through official channels, but in January asked that the office be relocated by the end of this month. As of the middle of last month, DIRCO’s Web
RSS