Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Chu (陳菊) yesterday announced that she would sue three political commentators for defamation during the run-up to the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 24 last year and afterward.
In a Facebook post, the former Kaohsiung mayor said there had been a wave of slander and personal attacks against her during the campaign by certain media outlets, commentators and politicians, but the smears and rumormongering worsened after the polls so she felt she had no choice but to seek legal remedy.
She named Wu Tzu-chia (吳子嘉), Hsieh Han-ping (謝寒冰) and Chang Yu-hua (張友驊) as the respondents in her planned lawsuits, which she said she would pay for herself.
Photo: Wang Jung-hsiang, Taipei Times
Citing information gathered by her attorney, Chen said from Jan. 15 to Jan. 31, the alleged smears against her totaled nearly 300 minutes on talk shows aired by Eastern Broadcasting (EBC) and CtiTV.
Forty minutes of one episode, or nearly half of its airtime, were spent attacking her, Chen said, calling the alleged defamation “systemic” and “organized.”
The programs were CtiTV’s News Tornado (新聞龍捲風) and EBC’s Crucial Moment (關鍵時刻), her office said in a statement.
The alleged smears included a claim that the wife of the chairman of a state-owned business had learned how to cook Japanese cuisine for Chen, the statement said.
In the face of a rapidly deteriorating media environment, inaction could lead to society becoming unable to engage in rational dialogue, she said.
While in less severe cases it could constitute online bullying, in the worst cases, it could jeopardize public safety or even develop into extremism or pervasive verbal abuse, she said.
The extensive spread online of comments that have not been fact-checked or that were simply fabricated not only damages a person’s reputation, but also puts the public in the dangerous position of having no means of knowing or determining the truth, she added.
Chen said that she believes people are “mistaken” in believing that freedom of speech allows for comments that are biased, “absurd” or fabricated, as well as those that have not been fact-checked or damage individual or public interests.
She could not sit by while freedom of speech is being abused and misused, she said.
Even if she wins the lawsuits, it would be difficult to restore her reputation, because the allegations would continue to exist online, she said.
However, filing the lawsuits was a “necessary” action in light of a “democratic politics” that is “facing disintegration” and a Taiwanese society that is “in crisis, yet unaware,” she said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS