`China Times' firings prompt Taipei protest plans

Over 100 laid-off workers from the China Times (中國時報) are planning a protest tomorrow in Taipei, local media reported yesterday.

Editing sections at the daily's central and southern offices unexpectedly fired more than 100 page editors on Friday.

Lee Piao (李彪), the paper's chief editor in the south, said his editing section had no choice but to cut back its number of page editors in response to rapidly worsening economic conditions at the paper.

The rise in the cost of paper, which has increased by 50 percent over the past year and the fact that fewer people are buying newspapers in favor of using the Internet are also part of the problem, Lee said.

Lee also pointed out that their profits from advertisements have shrunk, as the newspaper sometimes needs to run free advertisements in order to attract more business.

"The paper's annual profit made from advertising is NT$2 billion less than it used to be," Lee said yesterday.

In response to the firings, officials at the Bureau of Labor Affairs in Kaohsiung City said yesterday that they would try their best to ensure the workers' rights.

Taiwan's local broadcast media have also been forced to make cutbacks. TTV (台視), CTS (華視) and ETTVS (東森新聞S頻道) are all laying off workers in order to reduce expenditure.

According to ETTVS, its recent dismissal of some 30 employees will allow the company to save NT$4 million a month.