Grace Liao (廖筱君), host of SET-TV’s New Taiwan Go Go Go (新台灣加油), the successor to popular political TV talk show Talking Show (大話新聞), famous for its criticism of the government and China, confirmed her resignation on Friday, allegedly due to increasing pressure by the Chinese government on the show’s editorial autonomy.
“I don’t feel at all sleepy even though I have been awake the entire night. Making this decision was not an easy task, but after doing so, there is a sense of relief … We will meet another day and until then, we will fight for this land called Taiwan,” Liao said in a Facebook post at about 4am on Friday.
SET-TV spokesperson Chang Cheng-fen (張正芬) also confirmed Liao’s resignation, saying Liao was assigned to her current post at a critical moment after Talking Show host Cheng Hung-yi (鄭弘儀) left the program in May. Liao tendered her resignation for family reasons, Chang said.
Photo: Chen Yi-chuen, Taipei Times
Allegedly, Liao had originally decided to break the news of her departure during the show’s live broadcast on Thursday, but called in sick that afternoon after rumors of her resignation emerged earlier than expected.
Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator and political commentator Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) filled in for Liao on Friday’s program.
Liao’s abrupt resignation has given rise to further speculation about Chinese influence in Taiwan-based television stations, particularly after Cheng also cited “family reasons” for his resignation.
At the time, most analysts linked his departure to China’s growing pressure on SET-TV, which has been attempting to break into the Chinese market.
According to a source familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Liao submitted her resignation after her relationship with the station ran aground over a number of sensitive issues.
The station had reportedly planned to get rid of all the regular guests on Talking Show following its suspension in May. However, Liao insisted on keeping some of them, including veteran journalist Wu Kuo-tung (吳國棟) and Soochow University political science professor Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), to maintain the show’s audience base.
Liao allegedly further displeased the station’s management when she persisted in covering issues related to the recent student protests against the acquisition of Next Media’s four outlets in Taiwan by a consortium including Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), chairman of Want Want China Times Group — which already owns many major media outlets such as the Chinese-language China Times.
Despite attracting a large audience, the topics were deemed taboo by both China and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the source said.
Another source said political pressure from China has only increased following Cheng’s departure and all subjects covered in New Taiwan Go Go Go must be vetted before being aired.
“The show is barred from touching upon any issues pertaining to China, or airing criticism of the KMT administration,” the source said.
Citing as an example, the source said that former DPP legislator Lee Wen-chung (李文忠), who had been on the show several times, was blacklisted by the station’s senior management after making a reference on the show to the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) denial of visits by the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and World Uyghur Congress president Rebiya Kadeer.
“Such suppression of free speech was also seen when Liao was forbidden from discussing human rights issues involving Liu Xia (劉霞), the wife of imprisoned Chinese dissident and Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波), who recently lamented in tears her confinement under house arrest in a media interview,” the source said.
Blasting what he called China’s brutal smothering of Taiwanese television programs, an anonymous whistleblower accused the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of China’s State Council of monitoring and exerting its influence on a number of political talk shows in Taiwan.
According to the whistleblower, SET-TV has allegedly made some promises to TAO deputy director Sun Yafu (孫亞夫) who engaged in pro-unification rhetoric at a two-day forum on cross-strait relations in Taipei last week when the latter recently visited the TV station.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS