Taiwan People News is on Dec. 31 to cease daily operations after six years due to financial difficulties, founder Chen Yung-hsing (陳永興) said on Thursday on the news Web site, thanking readers for their support.
Taiwan People News does not have the financial backing of big conglomerates, enterprises or political parties, and has been supported by about 300 small shareholders from the medical, cultural, and small and medium-sized enterprise sectors, said Chen, who is also a political activist.
Shareholders decided to stop daily operations because of the costs of running a daily news Web site.
Over the past six years, Taiwan People News has spent NT$72 million (US$2.33 million), Chen said, adding that the decision was made with great reluctance, but it is time to say goodbye.
Chen said that he was appointed to settle the news outlet’s accounts, and any remaining funds would be donated to the Taiwan People Cultural Arts Foundation, which is expected to continue running the news Web site and publish occasional articles written by editorial writers from Taiwan People News.
Research conducted in October by Taiwan Media Watch, a non-governmental organization committed to maintaining press freedom and promoting media self-regulation, found that the Taiwan People News Facebook page was one of the most trustworthy and diverse among the 36 organizations publishing daily news in Taiwan.
Organized by Chen, Nobel Prize laureate Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) and film director Wu Nien-jen (吳念真), Taiwan People News publishes news without charge and seeks to reflect public opinion in Taiwan, according to its Web site.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese