The Chinese-language Apple Daily newspaper yesterday apologized over the controversy surrounding the new “News-in-Motion” section on its Web site and said it had removed videos containing controversial scenes.
“We apologize for upsetting the public because of certain content in our News-in-Motion video clips,” Apple Daily editor-in-chief Jesse Ma (馬維敏) told a news conference after meeting representatives of civic groups protesting outside its headquarters in Taipei.
News-in-Motion is a new feature on the newspaper’s Web site that gives detailed descriptions of news items using film and animated videos.
“To show our sincerity, we immediately removed video clips with controversial content,” he said. “From now on, the News-in-Motion section will refrain from presenting possibly controversial news items in an overly realistic way.”
However, Ma said the newspaper would retain the feature and urged the public to respect its innovative presentation of news items.
Civic groups have expressed concern that videos showing details of sexual assault, sexual harassment, domestic violence and child abuse could cause further psychological injury to victims and have a negative impact on children with access to the videos online.
“I would like to ask [Apple Daily publisher] Jimmy Lai [黎智英] how he would feel if his own daughter were a victim of sexual assault and media outlets showed every detail of it in an animated video,” Awakening Foundation executive director Tseng Chao-yuan told reporters outside the newspaper’s headquarters.
Taipei Teachers’ Association chairman Chang Wen-chang (張文昌) said he was concerned that children might imitate what they see in the clips.
“I’m not against freedom of the press, but how would you feel if your own kids watched these videos?” he said.
Several college journalism students also joined the protest.
Shelly Lu (呂紹玉), a sophomore journalism major at National Chengchi University, said she did not consider News-in-Motion news, “because it is more like cartoons with violent content.”
“Viewers may be misled by animated videos aimed at re-establishing the scene,” she said.
In response to Ma’s remarks, Tseng said the civic groups were very disappointed that the Apple Daily had not explicitly promised not to portray scenes of sexual assault, sexual harassment, child abuse and domestic violence in its animated videos.
She said the groups would continue to discuss the issue with the newspaper.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said yesterday that Next Media Ltd (壹傳媒集團), publisher of the Apple Daily, would be fined an additional NT$500,000 for continuing to offer sensational content.
The city government on Wednesday fined the Apple Daily NT$500,000 for violating the media classification regulations in the Children and Juveniles Welfare Act (兒童及青少年福利法).
Hau said the city government would ask all schools in the city to cancel their subscriptions to the paper, as it contained a code enabling free downloads of News-in-Motion clips to cellphones.
“We will continue monitoring the situation and hand out more fines if the situation does not improve,” Hau said.
Executive Yuan Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) encouraged people to report any inappropriate News-in-Motion content to the government.
Su quoted Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) as saying government officials should integrate their efforts to bring the controversial feature into compliance.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH AND SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
WAR’S END ANNIVERSARY: ‘Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,’ the president said on social media after attending a morning ceremony Countries should uphold peace, and promote freedom and democracy, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday as Taiwan marked 80 years since the end of World War II and the Second Sino-Japanese War. Lai, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and other top officials in the morning attended a ceremony at the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) to honor those who sacrificed their lives in major battles. “Taiwanese are peace-loving. Taiwan does not believe in commemorating peace by holding guns,” Lai wrote on Facebook afterward, apparently to highlight the contrast with the military parade in Beijing marking the same anniversary. “We
RSS