The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said it would not press charges against the United Daily News (UDN) journalist who wrote that the US government had pressured Taiwan to produce biological warfare agents, on the grounds that the story was written based on a falsified document provided by a source and the journalist had sought to verify the information before the story was published.
The Executive Yuan denounced the story as having apparent errors when it was published in July.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesperson Hsieh Pei-fen (謝佩芬) and the party’s New Taipei City councilor candidate Wu Cheng (吳崢) on July 18 took the case to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, accusing the journalist, surnamed Kao (高), of forging documents and making false claims.
Photo: Wu Hsin-tien, Taipei Times
During questioning, Kao told prosecutors that the “South Sea Work Meeting Minutes” that he cited in his story was given to him by a long and trusted friend who was a political news reporter before going into business.
Kao said that he was told that the minutes were from a person working in government, but his friend did not disclose the person’s identity.
Kao said that he checked with a Ministry of National Defense (MND) spokesperson before the story was published, asking about the “P4 laboratory” (biosafety level 4 lab) mentioned in the minutes.
He said the spokesperson told him that the ministry “is not researching and developing biological warfare agents” and “has no plan to do so.”
The prosecutors’ office said that the meeting minutes that Kao cited in his story had a different format from the one used by the Executive Yuan.
Moreover, unlike the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the Taiwanese military does not use the word “our party” in accordance with the principle of administrative neutrality, it said.
Although Kao had twice verified the information with an MND spokesperson, he only sent screenshots of parts of the minutes alleging that the US government had asked Taiwan to research and develop biological warfare agents instead of the entire minutes, the office said.
Meanwhile, page 1 of the minutes clearly stated the name and date of the Cabinet-level meeting and that it was presided over by then-premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), the office said.
“As an experienced political news reporter, Kao should know that the minutes, on which his entire story was based, came from a Cabinet-level meeting. As such, the authenticity of the minutes, and the accuracy of the content therein should all be verified before the publication of the story,” the office said.
However, Kao only checked with an spokesperson, but not the Executive Yuan, the office said.
His verification process was by no means “adequate” or “thorough,” it said.
Despite the oversight, the office said that it would not prosecute Kao as it is difficult to prove that he had intended to forge documents.
Presidential Office spokeswoman Lin Yu-chan (林聿禪) said that the United Daily News should issue a correction, take down the false report and apologize to the public.
The newspaper has not made corrections and taken down the report even though the Presidential Office, the defense ministry and Su have since July explained multiple times why the report was false.
“Chinese state media have also helped spread the report, making it a fuel for Beijing’s cognitive warfare against Taiwan. Taiwanese media have also become a content farm for fake news, confusing the public with false reports,” Lin said.
The report also tarnished Taiwan’s image in the international community and could have triggered international sanctions, she said.
“While the government supports freedom of the press and speech, using misinformation or disinformation hurts the people and the country. The United Daily News should take its social responsibility seriously and admit that it is wrong,” Lin said.
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