The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday criticized a local Chinese-language newspaper for refusing to carry a DPP advertisement concerning the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) "stolen assets" and running "pornographic advertisements" instead.
Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓), director of the DPP's Culture and Information Department, told a press conference that the party managed to place the ad in yesterday's United Daily News after being turned down by the China Times.
"The China Times prefers carrying obscene advertisements to pursuing the truth," she said. "I want to know whether that reflects the character of the paper."
Hsieh made the remarks after the China Times defended its decision to reject the DPP's advertisement, saying all media outlets have the absolute right to decide what kind of advertisements they want to carry.
Alleging that the KMT's sale of three media outlets meant losses of NT$28.4 billion (US$887 million) for state coffers, the DPP advertisement posed three questions to the KMT and China Times Group president Albert Yu (余建新).
First, it asked how many media outlets Jungli Investment Co actually bought from the KMT. Second, it questioned the role the KMT and Yu played in the deal. And third, it asked for clarification on the relationship between Jungli Investment Co and the China Times Group.
Hsieh said that the KMT's financial report last year indicated that party revenues reached only NT$300 million, but its expenses totaled NT$5 billion, resulting in a shortfall of NT$4.7 billion.
Despite such a deficit, Hsieh said the KMT has spent a lot of money on the upcoming legislative and presidential elections.
"I'd like to know where they get the funding. Did they get it from sales of their `stolen assets'?" she asked.
Hsieh claimed that the KMT had spent more than NT$340 million in subsidies for its district legislative candidates and more than NT$200 million in its promotional campaign for the elections.
She said she had tried to question Yu about the sales of three KMT-owned media outlets over the past two months, but Yu had refused to respond.
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