Published on 1 February 2007
17 December 2008 - Public media independence threatened, despite government denials
8 November 2008 - More than 10 journalists injured during opposition protests against Chinese visit
25 September 2006 - Government says journalists have right to security
The press produced massive coverage of corruption cases implicating the family of President Chen Shui-bian. Pluralism is an established reality on the island, but political tensions had a negative impact on the work of journalists.
Four journalists were manhandled in September 2006, during a demonstration in Taipei in support of President Chen Shui-bian. At the same demonstration, a presenter for satellite channel CTi, was physically assaulted for interviewing two deputies in the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, the protestors believing they should not be interviewed by a channel so close to the opposition Kuomintang party. In December, leaders of the ruling party said they were refusing to reply to questions from the China Times, a pro-opposition daily.
In April, a court in Taipei sentenced Kao Nien-yi, a journalist on the United Daily News, to a fine of 30,000 Taiwanese dollars (770 euros) per day for refusing to reveal his sources in a financial scandal. The sentence was applied for three days before it was suspended.
Under pressure from China, Taiwan’s journalists are still ostracised internationally. The UN in May repeated its refusal to accredit journalists from Taiwan to cover the body’s meetings in Geneva.
Scores of Chinese journalists, bloggers and human rights activists were arrested, put under house arrested or expelled from Beijing before and during the Olympic Games. The Games have now finished and we call for their release !
