Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday shrugged off the Chinese-language Apple Daily’s accusation that the Taipei City Government was exercising martial law in banning the newspaper from public schools and insisted that the policy did not compromise press freedom.
“We banned the paper in schools because it contains a code enabling free downloads of News-in-Motion clips to cellphones,” Hau said after participating in a campaign event in Yilan County, adding that the city government would allow public schools to subscribe to the paper again if News-In-Motion were properly classified so that teenagers would not have easy access to it, he said.
The Apple Daily — published by Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英) — launched News-In-Motion last week in a trial run as the Apple Group expands from print to TV. The service is accessible only to readers who pay a fee.
It uses animated graphics to reconstruct stories that appeared in the newspaper, and can also be viewed by cellphone users who scan a bar code printed in the newspaper. Some of the stories feature sexual assault and violence.
Authorities have scrambled to find existing laws to control the service, and lawmakers have urged media regulators to block access to Apple Daily’s online and mobile services.
The Taipei City Government fined Next Media on Wednesday and yesterday for offering sensational content on its News-In-Motion program. In addition to a NT$1 million fine, the city government asked public schools to stop subscribing to the paper and banned teenagers under 18 years old from borrowing the paper in public libraries.
The paper yesterday condemned the city government for “exercising martial law” by banning it in a front-page story, and quoted Apple Daily editor-in-chief Jesse Ma (馬維敏) as saying that it would consider a lawsuit against the city government for “trampling on the freedom of the press.”
Yeh Ching-yuan (葉慶元), commissioner of the city’s Law and Regulations Commission, said public schools had an obligation to sift publications for students and the policy did not affect the rights of the adults.
The city government could suspend News-In-Motion for up to a year if Next Media failed to prevent under 18s from viewing it, Yeh said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AP
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