The Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ) yesterday called on the Want Want Group (旺旺集團) — which owns the China Times Group — not to wage a war in the media and courts against people whose opinions differ from its own.
The Want Want Group has been running advertisements, publishing news reports and running columns in the Chinese-language China Times and Commercial Times as well as on CTiTV attacking the National Communications Commission (NCC) for the conditional approval it issued for Want Want’s management change at China Television Co and CTiTV.
All the media outlets are part of the China Times Group, which was bought by Want Want Group earlier this year.
The Want Want Group singled out three NCC commissioners who it said should be held responsible for any damage caused by the conditional approval. In the ads, the group demanded that people who had made “defamatory” remarks about the group or its chairman, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), apologize immediately or face legal action.
Last week, Media Watch chairman Kuan Chung-hsiag (管中祥), Wealth Magazine editor Tien Hsi-ju (田習如) and ATJ chairman Leon Chuang (莊豐嘉) — who have criticized the way that Want Want reacted to the NCC’s conditional approval — said they had received legal notices from Want Want.
“We understand that Want Want Group may have something to say about the criticism, and we respect its right to defend the company, however, we cannot accept it when the group reacts to criticism by taking legal action against journalists and media watchdog groups,” ATJ advisor Hu Yuan-hui (胡元輝) told a news conference yesterday.
“We do not oppose the ownership of news media by corporates, however, news media are not the private tools of corporate bosses,” Hu said. “We therefore call on the owners of Want Want Group to refrain from the use of advertisements to ‘try’ people with different views or use legal confirmation letters as a means of intimidation.”
“While media outlets have the right to defend themselves we call on the owners of the Want Want Group not to ignore its obligation to provide balanced and fair reporting,” he said.
Hu, on behalf of the ATJ, called on Want Want Group to respect the professionalism of individual journalists and refrain from “using reporters as its own private tools” and telling them what to report.
Kao Yung-cheng (高涌誠), the lawyer representing the trio who have received legal notices from Want Want Group, called on the group to respect free speech.
In related news, yesterday morning, the Want Want chairman met with Su Herng (蘇蘅), head of the journalism department at National Chengchi University, and Peng Wen-cheng (彭文正), head of National Taiwan University’s journalism department, and said he was willing to reconcile with academics and others who had criticized Want Want Group. However, he did not make it clear what the next step would be.
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