Reporters without Borders weighed in on the recent apparent moves by the KMT to bring the government owned media to heel.
Reporters Without Borders urges President Ma Ying-jeou to keep his promises to us to respect public media independence. He wrote in a letter to our secretary-general: "We believe that accusations of this administration’s interference in Taiwan’s media are based on some wrong information or misunderstandings." But the organisation has had disturbing reports of ruling Kuomintang party decisions undermining the independence of the public media.
"Taiwan should be a press freedom model in Asia and the independence of the public media is one of the key components of a free and diverse press system," Reporters Without Borders said. "We want to believe in President Ma’s promises but they must be translated into action."
The organisation added: "We are aware that political pressure on the public media is not new and existed under the previous government but it is vital that, regardless of political party debate, the media should have a favourable legislative and political environment. We urge the president to order a probe into the various accusations of meddling and to set up mechanisms that guarantee media independence."
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What a shame for Ma that the "influential Kuomintang lawmakers" that Reporters Without Borders' website mentions actually did call to have Public Television comments subject to approval from the government and that the budget for the public television station has been halved. It is kind of hard to disavow the smoking gun with your fingerprints on it.
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