The Presidential Office remained undeterred yesterday by a gathering storm over the appointment of Lai Kuo-chou (賴國洲), a former official at KMT Central Headquarters and the son-in-law of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), as chairman of the board of Taiwan Television Enterprise Ltd (TTV).
While the appointment is theoretically up to TTV's board of directors to decide, it is widely understood that the board is likely to select the candidate preferred by the Presidential Office.
It was also revealed yesterday that the Presidential Office supported the current president of the Independence Evening Post (
Despite opposition from scholars and some employees of TTV, the Presidential Office insisted yesterday that its arrangements would stand.
The next TTV board meeting on Aug. 18 is expected to formally invite Lai and Hu to take up the chairman and president posts respectively.
In an interview with the Taipei Times, Hu did not confirm his likely appointment but did indicate that he had been recommended to the president.
"If I promise to serve in the new position, I will have to think about how to maintain the professional spirit of TTV and to avoid interference from political parties or government," Hu said.
The TTV Labor Union had declared its opposition to the new government's appointment of Lai on the grounds that TTV must remain free from political interference.
Some opposition party lawmakers also criticized the government, alleging that it wanted to please former president Lee because Lee still had influence in the KMT.
Scholars and lawmakers accused the DPP of following in the same footsteps as the former government in its efforts to control the media. The DPP, they said, had once severely attacked the KMT for manipulating the mass media, especially the three major terrestrial television companies, but was now doing likewise.
"I refused to serve as a new member of the board of TTV," said Feng Chien-san (馮建三), a journalist at National Chengchi University, "because I cannot accept the new government's choice of Lai.
"I know that no matter who President Chen Shui-bian (
The current chairman of the board at TTV is KMT lawmaker Cheng Feng-shih (
The government only owns some 40 percent of TTV stock, and Cheng has built good relations with other board members, even representatives of stockholders.
Hu told the Taipei Times that the appointments will be announced before the president departs on his overseas visit on Aug. 13.
Political observers said that the purpose of the new government in appointing Hu was apparently to reduce the opposition to Lai because Hu is renowned for his journalistic professionalism.
"If I had known that Hu would be the new president of TTV, I might have reconsidered serving as a member of board," Feng said yesterday.
"The ability of the new president is more important than who succeeds to the position of chairman of board," Feng added.
"Lai's appointment is obviously a political favor in return for a kick-back (
The TTV Labor Union did not express any opposition to Hu yesterday but said that it did expect the new government to allow TTV to retain its independence and neutrality.
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