VOA on Chen

The VOA report on yesterday's second failed recall motion is as bad as the BBC's. Same lack of balance on the accusations on Chen -- though more concrete details, at least -- and same regurgitation of the Blue claim of "hundreds of thousands of protesters." One would never find that the protests are partisan. Probably because the source appears to be pro-KMT, and the reporter is filed from Hong Kong:

Ho Szu-yin, a political scientist at Taipei's National Chengchi University and an adviser to the opposition Nationalist party, says what happens next depends on the outcome of the prosecutor's investigations. Until then, he says, another recall motion is unlikely.

"I don't think it's very likely until the main prosecutor, who is examining the national affairs slush fund, comes up with some very concrete evidence that would seriously implicate the president. Otherwise I don't think there will be another recall vote on that matter," he said.

The KMT does a much better job of managing the media than the DPP does, and the fruits of that experience and effort are manifest across the international media. A friend of mine at the VOA told me that the last visit by DPP officials there was a major embarrassment to the island, with DPP legislators behaving like miniature emperors and showing not the slightest respect for their position or the VOA. Sad.

Taiwan KMT BBC Democracy DPP PFP Shih Ming-deh/Shih Ming-te Chen Shui-bian media VoA