Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday accused members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of directing KMT-led media to run online campaigns to discredit the government.
A DPP investigation has found that KMT officials hold executive or board-level roles at Olorin Media (歐絡因創意) and Fangho Media (方和傳媒), DPP spokeswoman Michelle Lin (林楚茵) told a news conference at party headquarters in Taipei, accusing the media of disseminating content maligning the government’s egg import policy and agriculture programs.
Both companies promoted the KMT in their past election campaigns and they are connected to Lin Yu-hong (林裕紘) and Hsu Che-pin (許哲賓), principal figures in the “Lin Bay Hao You” (Lin Bay 好油) incident, Lin said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Public prosecutors are investigating the case, after Lin Yu-hong shared posts alleging people complained of rotten eggs and he had received death threats, which he later admitted to asking Hsu, who worked for the KMT policy committee, to fabricate.
DPP Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said that Lin Hong-yu has worked with KMT Yunlin County Commissioner Chang Li-shan (張麗善) for many years and her family had control over the county government along with most of agriculture product distribution and retailing channels of central and southern Taiwan.
Hsu previously worked as the Yunlin County Goverment’s social media editor, under then-department of information head Chou Po-yin (周柏吟), a former Fangho Media chairman, Michelle Lin said.
She also presented a document and said that Hsu had taken contract work with Olorin Media, a company founded by younger party members and second-generation KMT officials, along with a list of KMT-related executives and board members.
As “Lin Bay Hao You” incident suspects were detained, Olorin Media shut down its Web site, closed its Taipei office’s doors and rejected media inquiries, Nantou County Councilor Tsai Ming-hsuan (蔡銘軒) said.
KMT officials said Hsu was let go and the public should wait for the judicial investigation’s outcome, while adding that the two companies are commercial entities and the party does not have direct control over them.
KMT Policy Committee Head William Tseng (曾銘宗) has offered an apology to the public, but said he was not aware of case details and he had no right to ask individual staff members about their involvement in other activities.
‘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
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
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
RSS