Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓), head of the Foreign and National Defense Committee, said yesterday he had proposed an amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) that would grant journalists and editors the right to refuse to testify in court.
Asked for comment, Chou said he initiated the proposal to allow journalists to better protect their sources and thereby avoid a “chilling effect” on sources’ willingness to speak out.
Chou, however, said journalists and editors would not be allowed to abuse this right because his proposal also stipulated that journalists and editors would still be required to testify in court if their testimony were key to solving a case.
Under current regulations, professionals including public servants, doctors, pharmacists, midwives, religious figures, lawyers, defense attorneys and accountants enjoy the right to refuse summons to court to testify in cases involving their clients.
However, journalists and editors are not covered by the regulations.
The bill would apply to local and foreign journalists and editors. The bill had garnered enough signatures to be discussed in the legislature.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus said yesterday that it did not support the bill.
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said Taiwan was notorious for using news media to reveal scandals without offering any proof and that the proposed bill would exacerbate the situation.
DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said Taiwan’s news media likes to manipulate stories to provoke confrontation and hatred between different groups, adding that the abuses of power would become more serious if reporters were given the right not to reveal the sources.
In response, Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Hsieh Wen-ting (謝文定) said the nature of a reporter’s work was different from the professions listed in Article 182 of the Code of Criminal Procedure — doctors, pharmacists, obstetricians, the clergy, lawyers, defense attorneys, notaries public and accountants — because a reporter is not bound by confidentiality.
Reporters are also not included in the list of professions that are allowed to refuse to testify in other countries, he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG AND SHELLEY HUANG
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