The Taipei District Court (
However, Judge Lai Yung-hua's (
The dispute between The Journalist and Lu erupted in November 2000 when the magazine published a story accusing Lu of spreading a rumor that Chen was having an affair with one of his female aides. The magazine said Lu spread the rumor in order to unseat Chen.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Lu filed a civil suit on Dec. 21, 2000, demanding a formal apology from the magazine, saying the story had injured her reputation.
In addition to Yang, the lawsuit named as defendants The Journalist president Wang Chien-chuang (王健壯), executive president Jan Hung-chi (詹宏志), publisher Wang Hsing-ching (王杏慶) and reporters Yang Shu-mei (楊舒媚), Wu Yan-ling (吳燕玲) and Tao Ling-yu (陶令瑜).
In his verdict, Judge Lai acknowledged that Yang had lied about Lu calling him and telling him about the alleged affair and that he had also lied about having witnesses to back up the magazine's story.
However, Lai said the magazine was protected by the press freedom guaranteed by the Council of Grand Justices' constitutional Interpretation Number 509, which allows the press to propose proper questions about any suspicious fact or person. Therefore, he ruled that Yang was not guilty of libel.
Yang testified that Lu had called him on Nov. 13, 2000 and said that the president was having an affair. Yang said he had then told reporters Yang Shu-mei, Wu and Tao about the phone call and directed them to write about it.
In pre-trial hearings, Yang told the judge that Chen Shih-ning (
As for the other defendants, Lai ruled Wang Chien-chuang was not guilty because he was only in charge of administrative duties and had nothing to do with the magazine's stories. Jan was found not guilty because his title was simply an honorary one and he was not really working for the magazine. Wang Hsing-ching was found not guilty because his duties did not include editing the stories about Lu.
The three reporters were found innocent because the judge ruled they were only following orders in writing stories assigned to them by Yang.
However, Lai ruled that the story about Lu had damaged her reputation -- therefore, according to Article 188-1 of the Civil Code, Yang must "clarify and admit" his mistake. Lai ordered Yang to publish a clarification on the front pages of Taiwan's major newspapers as well as broadcast it on the radio and TV for three days.
"The case was about human dignity and press freedom," said Lai. "The court understood the defendants' jobs as media workers but we also considered Lu's reputation's as being damaged."
Lu claimed victory yesterday.
"The truth is the truth," Lu said. "No matter how Wang tried to argue and explain, he couldn't beat the truth."
She added that she appreciated the president's trust in her over this case.
Wang Chien-chuang said The Journalist actually won the suit.
"Why were those charges against the rest of us dropped?" said Wang. "That means we were always telling the truth. We will discuss an appeal on Yang's behalf with our lawyers."
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday criticized the nuclear energy referendum scheduled for Saturday next week, saying that holding the plebiscite before the government can conduct safety evaluations is a denial of the public’s right to make informed decisions. Lai, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), made the comments at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting at its headquarters in Taipei. ‘NO’ “I will go to the ballot box on Saturday next week to cast a ‘no’ vote, as we all should do,” he said as he called on the public to reject the proposition to reactivate the decommissioned
US President Donald Trump on Friday said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office. Trump made the remarks in an interview with Fox News, ahead of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “I will tell you, you know, you have a very similar thing with President Xi of China and Taiwan, but I don’t believe there’s any way it’s going to happen as long as I’m here. We’ll see,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News’ Special Report. “He told me: ‘I will never do
EXCEPTIONS: Some people could be allowed to reclaim citizenship for humanitarian reasons or because of their contributions to the nation, the interior ministry said Taiwan would soon unveil new rules banning Taiwanese residents of China from reclaiming their citizenship if they participated in Beijing’s propaganda activities, the Ministry of the Interior said on Monday. The measures were drafted following President William Lai’s (賴清德) March 13 directive that the government counter China’s espionage and influence campaigns aimed at undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty, the ministry said in a preview of the rules. The changes would affect Taiwanese who lost their citizenship after becoming permanent residents of China or obtaining passports issued by China, it said. Under the measures, former Taiwanese nationals living in China who had made statements denying the
RSS