Media personality Clara Chou (周玉蔻) on Wednesday vowed to appeal a Taipei District Court ruling ordering her to pay NT$2.8 million (US$92,660) in a lawsuit filed by Want Want China Times Media Group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) accusing her of slander in 2020.
The veteran journalist and talk show host issued a press release saying she disagreed with the ruling, which said she violated the terms of a settlement agreement with Want Want Group.
“We cannot give up freedom of speech. To be binding and effective, the terms of the settlement agreement must not be contravene constitutional guarantees on freedom of speech,” the press release said.
Photo: Chung Chih-kai, Taipei Times
Chou has repeatedly clashed with Tsai and his Want Want Group, accusing Tsai and his media outlets — CTi TV and the Chinese-language China Times newspaper — as being too close to China.
In 2017, Chou said during a show that Want Want Group and its media outlets are “mouthpieces” of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.
Tsai filed a lawsuit accusing her of slander.
Chou offered a public apology, and the two sides reached a settlement, with Chou promising not to engage in talks “in the form of attacks” against Want Want Group media outlets or of making “malicious comments.”
In 2020, while hosting Hot News 152 (辣新聞152), Chou allegedly said that “Tsai Eng-meng and CTi TV are ‘red media’ representing the Chinese Communist Party [CCP], and that CTi TV news programs are proxies for the CCP.”
Tsai accused her of violating their agreement and filed for compensation.
Chou has also allegedly said that “Tsai Eng-meng only cares about getting rich in China, for which he had abandoned his Taiwan household registry” and “Tsai has a reputation for drinking, womanizing, spending money to show off, that many people knew about it.”
During a trial hearing, Chou said in her defense: “When I said CTi TV is ‘red media’ working for the CCP, this is a common view held by 99 percent of Taiwanese. [My comment] merely reflected the prevailing opinion in society.”
She also cited the US Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in 2020 and last year, which she said talked about the Chinese influence and the pro-China stance of Want Want Group’s media outlets in Taiwan.
Explaining why she had agreed to settle before, she said: “We had many rounds of mediation in the 2017 case, with Tsai insisting that all his work is based on the principle of ‘following the truth and rationality, giving Taiwan true love.’”
“I was touched and hoped his work would adhere to his stated principles,” she added.
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