President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said that the government would not suppress the freedom of the press or people's freedom of speech under the pretext of national security considerations and urged the media to develop the ability to regulate themselves.
"Still, there are many conflicts [between freedom of expression and the demands of national security] that cannot be resolved by legal or judicial means," President Chen said at the Presidential Office as he received Donald Kummerfeld, chairman of the US-based International Federation of the Periodical Press.
"I would hope that all media would adhere to the attitude of seeking the truth and of being rational and responsible about exercising self-discipline," the president said.
The president's remarks followed recent controversies over the National Security Bureau's (NSB) application for prosecutors to search the premises of Next magazine, after it published details of classified NSB documents, and Vice President Annette Lu's (呂秀蓮) libel suit against The Journalist magazine.
The magazine had accused Lu of spreading rumors that Chen was having an affair with a female aide.
The president of The Journalist Wang Chien-chuang (
Kummerfeld echoed the pre-sident in saying that freedom of speech should not be an unlimited freedom.
He said that governments had a role to play in protecting children and the personal privacy of all citizens, praising recent legislation introduced by the Japanese government in these two fields.
But he said that, on balance, the government should allow the media to set the limits on freedom of the press by exercising self-discipline, rather than abusing its own power by imposing legal constraints upon the media.
Chen praised Taiwan's periodical sector, saying it had developed a high degree of professionalism and sophistication and was an important and necessary source of information and knowledge.
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