The Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ), several civic groups and academics are urging the public to sign an online signature drive in support of employees of the Chinese-language China Times against the paper’s plan to lay off some 400 workers.
At a press conference in Taipei yesterday, Media Watch chairman Kuan Chung-hsiang (管中祥) urged the China Times to sign a pact guaranteeing employees’ rights and to publicize its financial condition. He said the online petition launched last Monday had attracted more than 400 people.
He criticized the paper’s plan to turn downsize itself and turn itself into a “newspaper for the elite,” adding: “The media, as a public tool, should not exist only for the elite but should reflect the voice of different groups of a society.”
ATJ secretary-general Liu Chia-jun (劉嘉韻) said the paper would become a tabloid for a short period before disappearing.
The China Times said on June 18 it would reduce its pages and downsize its work force by almost half because of a big drop in advertising revenues.
“Newspapers are more than a business. They are also an indispensable public sphere in a democracy,” Campaign for Media Reform representative Chiu Chia-yi (邱家宜) said, urging the paper to model itself on the Guardian in the UK and turn the newspaper over to a trust to be managed.
“I don’t think the China Times ever cared about its elite readers,” said Kuo Li-hsin (郭力昕), a lecturer at National Chengchi University’s department of radio and television and a contributor to the paper.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
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