Singapore’s largest Chinese-language newspaper yesterday praised the punishment handed out to Next Media in Taiwan for running violent graphics on its online news channel.
An editorial in the Lianhe Zaobao (聯合早報) said that because children and teenagers are the main users of new media, the violent images would negatively affect the mental health of young audiences.
Fining the company showed that Taiwan is a healthy society that observes basic moral principles and human conscience, the editorial said, arguing that the company deserves no sympathy.
In a modern society, freedom of speech is a fundamental human right that should be protected and promoted, but it cannot be extended unconditionally, the editorial said. Instead, it must be enjoyed responsibly; otherwise, it cannot be considered really free, the paper said.
If businesses were allowed to sell products that have a detrimental effect on the mental health of children and teenagers under the banner of free speech, that would mean that selling heroin under the pretext of free trade should be legal, the editorial said.
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FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man
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