A media buyout in Taiwan which would put independent news outlets critical of China into the hands of a pro-Beijing media tycoon is cause for concern for the island's press. Jimmy Lai, the outspoken mogul behind Hong Kong-based Next Media and the Apple Daily tabloid, is selling his unprofitable Taiwan holdings to a consortium including Tsai Eng-meng, whose China Times Media group is supportive of China, according to local and international news reports....showing how publicity about the effects of the buyout on the media atmosphere in Taiwan is reaching globally. Kudos to everyone who has worked to publicize this sad affair.
The Taipei Times noted, however, that there has been too great a focus on the Next Media buyout and other media issues are going AWOL. To wit: excellent TT editorial on the Administration's moves to constrain reporting by placing it under government regulation....
A second worrying incident occurred on Monday, when the legislature passed an initial screening of a draft amendment to the Communicable Disease Control Act (傳染病防治法) that would force media organizations to correct any “false” information they publish on disease prevention measures during an epidemic. While this makes sense on paper, the proposed amendment raises the specter of the government — perhaps in collusion with pharmaceutical companies — having final say on what constitutes “true” or “false.”The 'first incident' referred to the editorial was this survey published by the Taipei City government.
_______________
Daily Links:
- Satin Cesena on urban bike culture. Taiwan is almost ideal for this climate-wise, but the infrastructure and enforcement here are abysmal.
- As a friend wittily observed, the DPP's awesome Joseph Wu turns tables on Chinese, says they hurt Taiwanese feelings.
- Adobe sends waves through tech world when it closes its Taiwan sales office.
- Haha. Interagency board approves China-based hijacking of Taipei Arena for Music Awards.
[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums! Delenda est, baby.
2 comments:
I like the way the article on Joseph Wu was written. Well, I worry it was deliberately written to push a particular view, but since I agree with the view I enjoyed reading it.
"This is because China has hurt the Taiwanese people's feeling by ... including images of Taiwanese scenery on its passports, rejecting questions from Taiwanese journalists on the issue, ... just to name a few, he said.
" and then "In response to his comments, Yu Keli, chief of the Institute of Taiwan Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, said that all the things mentioned by Wu happened in the past."
A reader can easily note that the passport incident was very very recent.
"He also rattled off [heh] China's official line by saying that China deploys missiles to defend its security and would never use them against its compatriots unless they do not consider themselves Chinese or have the intention of seeking Taiwan independence to split China's territory." No worries, I'm only point a gun at your head for self-defense and I won't pull the trigger unless you do something I don't like.
I thought the purpose of the WTO was supposed to be to promote free trade. The way you describe it the WTO promotes free trade in much the same way as the UN promotes peace and human rights.
Post a Comment