DPA reports that former vice president Annette Lu is planning to start her own online newspaper:Taiwan's former vice president announced plans Sunday to start a newspaper to advocate for Taiwanese independence from China. Annette Lu, 64, who ended two terms as vice president in May, held a luncheon in Taipei to raise funds for the afternoon paper, the Formosa Post, scheduled to begin publication July 1.As the report notes further down, the market here is very competitive and newspapers are slowly strangling. How Lu will make her project go, and differentiate it from the Liberty Times and Taiwan News, is a mystery to this writer. We already lost a green paper several years ago -- remember the old Taiwan Daily?
Lu raised 13 million Taiwan dollars (400,000 US dollars) at the event but said she needs 600 million (18 million US) to start the paper, and is recruiting reporters.
Lu said her recent trip to the US to attend Barack Obama's inauguration hardened her determination to publish a newspaper.
"Some US politicians think that Taiwan has surrendered to China and Taiwan people go with that. If Taiwan people make no noise, the US would think that what the Taiwan government does, is the will of Taiwan people, so the US would not interfere," she said.
[Taiwan]
While I am all for new and alternative voices in the media, the business plan doesn't sound too good. A newspaper published at 3:00 in the afternoon? It might have worked a few decades ago...
ReplyDeleteIt's even more curious why she thinks she needs so much money when it's an online paper. If it's only politics, there's no real market; if it's a full-fledged paper (hire some bloggers!), it could give the stagnating and technically inept Taipei Times a good kick in the butt.
ReplyDeleteWell, you are talking about print media, which is hurting all over, not just in Taiwan. She is apparently talking about an online newspaper, a medium where, I believe, there still are avenues for growth. Think Huffington Post or Talking Points Memo or something along those lines. I guess it all depends on what her vision for this is, how she plans to realize that vision, and who she brings on board.
ReplyDeleteMaybe while in Washington she got her hair done by Katharine Graham's former stylist and too many reagents soaked through her scalp in the process.
ReplyDelete"If Taiwan people make no noise,... would think that what the Taiwan government does, is the will of Taiwan people..."
ReplyDeleteI believe strongly that the ppl of taiwan needs to help themselves at this time when its government is openly selling its country out, the real ppl of taiwan, that is the ppl who truely loves taiwan needs to stand up and protect their land before it's too late.
How feasible would it be to have it written in some form of Taiwanese? And, ah, get people to read it too...?
ReplyDeleteMaybe she'll hire you!!!
ReplyDeleteShe needs a lot of money though. We all know it takes about 10 dollars to start a website though.
You are all such a bunch of worrywarts and crybabies. When the blogmaster asked: "How Lu will make her project go, and differentiate it from the Liberty Times and Taiwan News, is a mystery to this writer."
ReplyDeleteSir, Ms Lu's afternoon paper is not competing with any other paper on the island. It is a new start-up, just like all newspapers start at some point as a start-up. Even the Liberty Times was once a start-up, the year it started. So cut the good lady so slack. Her afternoon paper will be just that: a slim, 20 page paper that hits the news stands around 3 pm, with news that the morning papers missed or did not comment on. There is room for such a paper, sure. Why not? She has the means, the money and the where with all to do it, give her a chance. If she was a man, you would not be saying these things, guys. Admit it. If it was Terry Guo or some rich fat cat, you would all be shipping in your pants, wow. But it's a lady, a grand dame at that, so you all poo paw her. Give Lady Lu a chance and watch her paper grow. Men with penises are not the only things that grow on this island.
I say this as a former NTU dame myself, and if Johnny Nay Who is reading this, he will know just what me and Cathay have been doing lately. Lesbians can run papers, too. The new PR of Iceland is a dyke, so get over it, guys. FORMOSA POST will rock solid. Give it a chance< maybe % years to break even O YE MEN OF LITTLE FAITH AND EVEN LESS ESTROGEN>>>
-- Anonemouse NTU Dame , 41 yrs young
Whoa, that was bizarre...
ReplyDeleteIf she was a man, you would not be saying these things, guys. Admit it.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea how you read male chauvinism into my post.
If Lu were a man, I'd still be wondering how she was going to make it. In the past we've discussed the financial situations of other media organs without reference to the gender of their owners as a meaningful datum. I didn't think it was meaningful here either. I did think the crowded market, the death of one green daily in the last couple of years, Lu's lack of deep pockets, and lack of experience in running a major daily were more important than whether she has a penis or a vagina. I supposed it is quaint and old fashioned of me to consider such silly things.
Michael
"I supposed it is quaint and old fashioned of me to consider such silly things."
ReplyDelete[Wryly]: Either that, or your experience as a man makes you (and every other male here) incapable of seeing your own chauvenism. Or maybe it is genetic. Stranger things have been proposed before...
Unless it's given away as a freebie on the MRT, I don't think there is a market for this type of paper anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe money would be much better spent supporting the pro-Taiwan View from Taiwan, an under appreicated national treasure.
Frankly we need more unorthodox moves not more of the same.
ReplyDeleteLook at the GOP, I mean having a black chief running it is silly. That's not going to win them any votes, that just reeks of desperation.
We need to do something bold, and dramatic, that challenges old methods of gathering positive media attention.