The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said it would file defamation lawsuits against the host and a number of guests on a talk show for “abusing freedom of speech” by criticizing President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and accusing the KMT of interfering with the judiciary in the corruption cases against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
“The KMT has always respected and defended the independence of the judiciary ... Accusing us of intervening in the system has clearly done great damage to the party’s reputation,” KMT spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said.
The lawsuits will be aimed at the host and guests on the political talk show Boss Talk (頭家來開講), which airs on Formosa Television (FTV). In last Thursday’s show, the host — former Government Information Office chief Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) — and his guests discussed a ruling by the Supreme Court that day convicting Chen and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), on bribery charges, sentencing them to 19 years in prison.
The guests, who included former Democratic Progressive Party deputy secretary-general You Ying-lung (游盈隆) and former reporter Wang Shi-chi (王時齊), accused Ma and the KMT of interfering with the judiciary by vowing to lead judicial reform and using the rulings to boost its momentum ahead of the special municipality elections on Nov. 27.
In a letter addressed to FTV the following day, the KMT demanded that Shieh and his guests clarify their remarks within three days or face legal action.
KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) said that as the party did not hear back from either the guests or the host, it decided to file lawsuits.
“Talk show hosts and guests enjoy freedom of speech, but they do not have the freedom to fabricate lies and make groundless accusations,” King said, adding that the KMT was not considering suing the TV station.
Su declined to confirm the number of guests the KMT would sue, adding that the party would let the public know after it finished filing the documents.
Prior to the FTV case, former KMT chairman Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄) brought a lawsuit against the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), while King sued political commentator Chung Nien-huang (鍾年晃), who appeared on the Talking Show (大話新聞) program on SET-TV, again over their comments regarding the Chen ruling.
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) yesterday said that private-sector refiners are willing to stop buying Russian naphtha should the EU ask them to, after a group of non-governmental organizations, including the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), criticized the nation’s continued business with the country. While Taiwan joined the US and its Western allies in putting broad sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, it did not explicitly ban imports of naphtha, a major hard-currency earner for Russia. While state-owned firms stopped importing Russian oil in 2023, there is no restriction on private companies to
INDUSTRY: Beijing’s latest export measures go beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related tech, an academic said Taiwanese industries could face significant disruption from China’s newly tightened export controls on rare earth elements, as much of Taiwan’s supply indirectly depends on Chinese materials processed in Japan, a local expert said yesterday. Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈), director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that China’s latest export measures go far beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related technologies. With Japan and Southeast Asian countries among those expected to be hit, Taiwan could feel the impact through its reliance on Japanese-made semi-finished products and
RSS