Want Want Group (旺旺集團) has sent statements to journalists and media reform groups that have reported on the company’s take-over of China Television Co (CTV, 中視) and CTiTV (中天電視), saying they would be sued unless they admit that they were wrong in their commentaries.
The immediate reaction from the recipients was that the demand was “ridiculous.”
Media Watch chairman Kuan Chung-hsiang (管中祥), who received the letter on Wednesday, said he found it “upsetting yet laughable at the same time.”
Saying that he was simply exercising his civil right to freedom of expression, Kuan said he would not apologize. Want Want Group was welcome to sue him, he said.
BACKLASH
Kuan said yesterday that Want Want Group’s demand for an apology by individuals who were critical of the takeover had caused a backlash in media circles and that Media Watch would issue a statement in the coming week on safeguarding Taiwan’s freedom of expression and demanding that the Want Want China Times Group concentrate on its responsibilities.
Wealth Magazine editor Tien Hsi-ju (田習如), who received the letter on the same day as Kuan, said she failed to understand why she had received one because she only wrote an article in November last year about how Want Want Group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) bought the China Times Group.
Tien said she did refer to Tsai as a “red” in the story, which was about the second wave of “Hong Kong-ization” of Taiwanese media. Tien said she never expected that Want Want Group would think the article was so damaging to the company’s reputation that it would ask her to apologize.
Tien said she would not apologize because she had done nothing wrong, adding that if the company proceeded with the lawsuit, Wealth Magazine would give her its full support.
OVER-REACTION
Association of Taiwan Journalists chairman Leon Chuang (莊豐嘉), who received the letter on Thursday, said it referred to an opinion piece he wrote for the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) that said Tsai was kowtowing to the Chinese leadership.
According to Chuang, the letter said Tsai was of the opinion that Chuang’s article was the reason the National Communications Commission had attached restrictions to its ruling, which affected the interests of the China Times, and he therefore would sue Chuang unless he offered an apology.
Chuang said his opinion piece was based on an article he read in a magazine, and he didn’t see how it could have affected the NCC’s resolution.
However, he said it highlighted the ridiculous behavior of Want Want Group, which he said was over-reacting by attacking its media rivals.
Want Want Group’s management takeover of CTV and CTiTV sparked concern among media watchdogs because it would create a consortium including a newspaper, a magazine, cable TV channels and a terrestrial TV channel.
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