The retraction of an article calling for the impeachment of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on an independent online platform has caused other columnists to withdraw their articles in protest and stirred up debate over media censorship.
Academia Sinica associate researcher Huang Cheng-yi (黃丞儀) published an article in the online CommonWealth Magazine’s Independent Opinion section, calling on the legislature to initiate impeachment proceedings against Ma in the wake of the announcement of a meeting between him and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
The article was taken offline a few hours after its publication.
According to Huang, who disclosed the incident on Facebook, his editor said that the article “has been taken offline because the bosses are worried that the readers might mistake it for the magazine’s official stance.”
“Is it not clear enough that the Independent Opinion section, since its launch, has clearly indicated that it is a platform contributed to by independent commentators and has a disclaimer at the bottom of each page saying that the opinions expressed are solely those of the authors?” Huang asked.
“If the platform has to be worried about every article published being mistaken for the stance of CommonWealth Magazine, it probably should not have bothered to set up this platform in the first place,” he added.
CommonWealth magazine later issued a statement apologizing for the “displeasure the retraction has caused to the author,” saying that despite the disclaimer, articles “are often interpreted differently.”
“Extra discretion is required for handling the issue of cross-strait relationship, which is key to Taiwan’s fate,” it said. “The Ma-Xi meeting is a major public issue, [the platform] believes the public is entitled to a comprehensive understanding of the matter so we are to invite more articles of different viewpoints to be displayed in juxtaposition with each other.”
The incident has prompted an exodus of a group of intellectuals from the platform in protest, who each publicly announced their disapproval of the retraction, as well as their decision to stop writing on the platform and the request to have their previous articles removed.
The list includes but is not restricted to: Chang Chuan-fen (張娟芬), an advocate of the abolition of the death penalty, Rex How (郝明義), publisher and former national policy adviser, Ku Yu-ling (顧玉玲), former secretary-general of the Taiwan International Workers’ Association, Chiu Hua-mei (邱花妹), assistant professor of sociology at National Sun Yat-sen University, and Academia Sinica Institute of Sociology associate research fellow Wu Jieh-min (吳介民).
‘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
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
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
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