Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday decided to file a civil lawsuit against The Journalist (新新聞周報) magazine, which reported on Nov. 16 that Lu was behind rumors that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was having an affair with his translator, Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴).
Sticking to their guns, the magazine's president, Wang Chien-chuang (王健壯), yesterday responded to Lu's move, saying that "Lu has made a spectacle of herself by suing the media."
"The Journalist has nothing to fear by taking this dispute to court. However, Lu's actions will only serve to further impair the country's international image," Wang said at a press conference after the vice president had released a statement on the matter.
The statement said that Lu regarded the lawsuit as a last resort to repair her reputation, as the magazine has refused to apologize for what Lu's lawyers call "distorted" reporting.
"I've been very tolerant of The Journalist, yet they remain arrogant. I have decided to file a civil lawsuit against the magazine to repair my reputation. I also reserve the legal right to afterward pursue a libel lawsuit and sue for NT$100 million in compensation," Lu said in response to Wang's remarks.
The magazine shrugged off Lu's ultimatum to appologize by Dec. 10, and in return sent Lu a letter which insisted that the magazine had provided the public with accurate information.
Wang, in addition, denied media reports that the magazine had asked a lawyer, Chen Charng-ven (
In Taiwan, libel is a criminal offence punishable by a maximum of one year in jail. But in general it is more difficult to get the accused party convicted of the crime of libel than have him or her pay damages in civil litigation.
The reason is that criminal courts apply the "malicious intent" principle in determining whether the accused party was criminally liable, while civil litigation would concentrate on damages done to the litigant and whether the accused had malicious intent to defame or not.
"In criminal suits, the courts do not find the accused guilty of libel as long as the publication in question contains anything that is true. But the fact that a litigant's reputation has been seriously damaged by the majority of content which is untrue, is void and ignored," said Yu Mei-nu (尤美女), a member of the vice president's team of lawyers. "In this regard, civil litigation is probably a better way to proceed."
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