President Chen Shui-bian (
"The way in which some media organizations cover news is very worrying. Many inaccurate news reports not only result in irreparable damage, but also cost society dearly," Chen said in a speech at the Wu Shuen-wen News Award (
PHOTO: SUNG CHIH-SHIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"The quality of our democracy has been seriously damaged by the way certain media organizations exaggerate the facts," he said.
Chen's complaints followed a dispute between the Presidential Office and the China Times, which had threatened to sue the newspaper, over a report that Chen had received a donation for his 1994 Taipei mayoral campaign from Zanadau Development Corp's majority shareholder.
The lawsuit threat was dropped after the paper published an apology in yesterday's edition
Chen told the audience at the ceremony that he has experienced numerous attempts to discredit him during his political career.
"The damage to my personal reputation is not a big deal, but such damage to ordinary people is not easily repaired," he said.
"It's the government's responsibility to defend the freedom of speech and news. But freedom always comes with responsibilities. The public not only has the right to know, it has the right to know the truth," Chen said.
He encouraged the news professionals to upgrade their professional standards to international standards. He said news professionals should stop focusing on covering paparazzi incidents or unconfirmed rumors and start to control the quality of news sources and the process of news reporting.
Wu Shuen-wen (
Yesterday's ceremony coincided with Wu's 90th birthday.
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