A Hakka Journalism Award recipient yesterday accused the Council for Hakka Affairs (CHA) of restricting his freedom of speech after it refused to show a recorded message about his nomination at the award ceremony.
Yeh Jih-chia (葉日嘉), a freelancer, received this year’s Hakka Journalism Award for his report on the Miaoli County Government’s demolition of historic kilns in Houlong Township (後龍), which was published in Hakka Magazine earlier this year.
The three kilns, torn down in January to make way for a development project, were the last kilns built during the Japanese colonial period to manufacture bricks and pottery, when Miaoli was the country’s pottery production center.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
After submitting his work and receiving a nomination for the award, Yeh was asked by the council to introduce his own work and share his thoughts in a video clip.
The council has been showing video recordings by award nominees at its award ceremony since the award was first held three years ago.
As Yeh is also a member of the campaign to save the kilns, in the video clip he held up signs asking Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) to apologize and Miaoli International Culture and Tourism Bureau director Lin Chen-feng (林振豐) to step down.
“I sent my video on Tuesday [last week] and received a telephone call from an official asking if I could change the content because they considered it inappropriate,” Yeh said after receiving the award yesterday.
“The official said they were afraid showing the video could create conflict between the council and the Miaoli County Government,” he said.
“I said I wouldn’t change it and it was up to them whether to show it or not,” he said.
Although an independent panel of judges decided to give the award to Yeh, the council decided not to show his video, making Yeh one of only two nominees without a video presentation.
The other, Chung Chao-wen (鍾肇文), passed away before he could make a video.
“I think that the council is too conservative. It’s my right to say what I want to say in my video,” Yeh said. “If there are any consequences, I will take responsibility for what I say.”
The council’s Public Media Center deputy director, Andrew Yu (游進忠), said it was his decision to block Yeh’s video.
“If we showed the video at an award ceremony organized by the council, it would be like a government organization attacking the head of another government organization — that’s something we simply cannot do, otherwise we would upset people,” Yu said. “There’s no freedom of speech at a government agency.”
Minister of the Council for Hakka Affairs Huang Yu-chen (黃玉振), who said he was unaware of the decision until told by reporters, supported Yu’s decision.
Chiang Min-hsiu (江明修), dean of National Central University’s College of Hakka Studies and head of the panel of judges for the award, however, disagreed.
“Whatever Yeh has to say represents only himself, not any other organization, and should be respected,” Chiang said. “Especially because what he feels about the entire issue was what motivated him to write the story that won the award.”
“I think the council overreacted,” he said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS