Defenders of `Special Report' speak out

Lu Tung-long (盧統隆), head of Bi-sheng Broadcasting, which produced the Special Report series of VCDs, said yesterday that his employees had produced the discs simply because they wanted to express a different political voice.

"Everybody has the right to speak out, no?" Lu said at a press conference yesterday morning at National Taiwan University.

"People First Party [PFP] Chair-man James Soong (宋楚瑜) criticized our stories for the VCD series as nasty. Please, prove it!" he said.

In response to Soong's criticisms, Lu filed a libel suit against the PFP chief on Nov. 21.

"Taipei prosecutors summoned the actors and actresses in the VCDs because PFP Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) filed a libel suit against us [the producers and cast]. So it is my hope that they can summon and interrogate Soong soon as well," Lu said.

Lu said that his company was established in July with Hsu Yu-chuan (許玉川) as its chief.

He said Hsu initially planned to organize a talk show but the plan fell through because no TV stations would air the show.

"Hsu talked to Formosa TV, ETTV, Era TV and TTV but none of them was willing to work with our company," Lu said.

Lu said that he joined the company after Hsu left and they decided to begin to work on the VCDs on Aug. 20.

He said his production house had completed work on the VCD series parts one to 10, while parts 11 and 12 were almost finished.

Yesterday's press conference was co-organized by the Northern Taiwan Society, the Southern Taiwan Society and the Central Taiwan Society. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Chung-mo (林重謨), Senior Presidential Adviser Koo Kuan-min (辜寬敏), writer Wu Jin-fa (吳錦發), Northern Taiwan Society vice chairman Chen Yi-shen (陳儀深) and secretary-general Yang Chi-wei (楊其偉) attended the conference to show their support for Lu and the cast of Special Report.

"There should be different voices in a society. They are doing the right thing to contribute themselves to a democratic country," Koo said. "I would love to do all that I can, financially and mentally, to help these young men who are working on Special Report."

Wu complained about the media coverage of the shows, saying, "The press owes me an apology."

Wu was referring to stories about Chiu accusing him of being one of the show's writers.

"Chiu made up stories every day and you guys [reporters] spread the message for him every day, too," Wu said. "Did you ever confirm your story ideas? How can you hurt an innocent person like that? How dare you?"

Wu accused Chiu of lying at least five times in the past seven days -- when he said Wu was one of the writers, when he said Wu had donated NT$6 million to the VCD cast, when he said Wu had installed a hidden camera in the lawmaker's residence and when he said Wu was supported by a unnamed politician.

"Why should a raped person have to find the evidence to prove the rapist guilty? Is it logical and reasonable? No. This is ridiculous," Wu said.