In yet another policy U-turn, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday that it will halt a plan to study the circulation and financial resources of the print media and will "adjust" the controversial items of an evaluation report on the news coverage of the mainstream Chinese-language newspapers.
"Although the study plans are well-intended and referential in nature, we'd rather drop them if they cause controversy and misunderstanding," Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) quoted Premier Yu Shyi-kun as saying yesterday morning.
Lin made the remark after receiving a mobile telephone call from Yu during the press conference held after the weekly closed-door Cabinet affairs meeting.
The controversy started Monday when the Government Information Office (GIO) announced that it had awarded NT$950,000 to the Foundation for the Advancement of Media Excellence (
The foundation would look into the six dailies' news coverage from page one to page four from the perspective of justice, objectivity, appropriateness and accuracy. Results of the evaluation would be released every two months.
Although the GIO claimed that the practice has been going on since the KMT administrations, the media have berated the government for violating their freedom of speech.
The GIO had also planned to finance another private organization to study the basic structural elements of the print media. Study items would include the circulation volume, circulation area, manpower and financial resources of the nation's newspapers and magazines and the impact of the nation's accession to the WTO has had on the print media.
Yu said yesterday, however, that the tender for this NT$3 million project had been cancelled.
Stressing the government's commitment to free speech and a free press, Yu said that the Cabinet's stance on the matter was clear.
"We totally respect the development space of the media and we'll do whatever it takes to safeguard liberty, democracy, freedom of speech and freedom of the press," Yu said.
Yu, however, called on the media to practice self-discipline to ensure that the public interest is safeguarded.
"While the electronic media is regulated by the Broadcasting and Television Law (廣電法), the print media is not bound by any existing legislation," Yu said. "We're more than happy to let private organizations take the initiative to review the performance of the media if they're interested in or capable of doing it."
According to GIO Director-General Arthur Iap (葉國興), several private organizations have approached the Foundation for the Prevention of Public Damage by the Media to provide funding to carry out the project.
"If we've gained anything from this incident, it's the public awareness of the financial plight of private organizations," he said. "We're more than happy to let go of the project."
Iap said that there was nothing new in the government entrusting private organizations to review the performance of the print media.
"During the KMT administrations, a non-profit private organization, the National Press Council of the Republic of China (新聞評議委員會), was the appointed organization to carry out such work," Iap said. "We didn't expect the plan, the first of its kind to award the contractor via open bidding, to cause so much controversy."
Iap also dismissed media reports that the GIO is planning to revive the Publishing Law (
"We're just studying how to regulate new forms of publications such as electronic books, music CDs, cassette tapes and so on," he said. "Even if there is a public consensus that a law should be enacted to manage such publications, the legislation would only be a basic law and not specify any punishment."
Iap brushed aside media speculation that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) played a role in the government's policy U-turn.
"The president has never tried to sway the decision-making of the Cabinet in this matter," he said. "Our stance is in line with that of the Presidential Office and we're in close contact with each other."
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