CTiTV yesterday filed a defamation lawsuit against United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) founder Robert Tsao (曹興誠) for calling the TV channel a “bandit network.”
CTiTV chairman Liao Li-sheng (廖麗生) and reporter Lin Chen-yu (林宸佑) went to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office to file a criminal defamation suit, as well as a civil claim for NT$500 million (US$16.28 million).
The network said that if it wins the suit, it would use the money to set up a fund to help schools across Taiwan “rebuild the declining values of propriety, justice, integrity, honor and respect for democracy.”
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Tsao in a statement called the suit “outrageous” and “clearly baseless.”
“Once [CTiTV] loses,” Tsao vowed to countersue the TV channel for NT$5 billion, to be donated to national defense.
The dispute arose from a news conference that Tsao held on Thursday, during which Lin asked Tsao if he was questioning the COVID-19 measures of former minister of health and welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) by criticizing China’s “zero COVID-19” policy as “foolish.”
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
After calling the question a trap and refusing to answer, Tsao called CTiTV a “bandit network,” using the term once used in Taiwanese politics to refer to Chinese communists.
A few questions later, he urged people not to watch CTiTV, saying that it is “worse than children reading filthy comics.”
“Robert Tsao’s outright slander and insults have not only harmed CTiTV’s reputation, but also damaged the education of children across Taiwan, trampled on Taiwanese morals and scorned freedom of speech,” Liao said. “CTiTV has no choice but to sue.”
Lin said that his question about “zero COVID-19” was something people across Taiwan wanted to know.
Unable to answer, Tsao instead used insults and slander to avoid the question, Lin said, adding that he is just an “insignificant” journalist trying to do his job coming under attack by a powerful businessman.
Tsao said the media should respond through their own outlets if they take issue with what people say.
“Since Thursday, Want Want China Times Media Group has attacked me with more than 200 videos, and now a defamation suit,” he said. “It amounts to bullying and is a disgrace for the media to abuse judicial resources in an attempt to restrict an individual’s freedom of speech.”
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