The Legislative Yuan yesterday said it has revoked New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin’s (游智彬) press pass, after he insulted lawmakers while live streaming a legislative meeting on Friday last week.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus on Monday convened a news conference accusing Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of failing to take action against You’s disruption.
DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said the party promoted the “open legislature” policy when it had a majority in the legislature in the past, but also regulated press passes.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
“More than 2,000 press passes were issued without proper control after Han became the legislative speaker,” she said.
Wu also criticized Legislative Yuan Secretary-General Chester Chou (周萬來) for refusing to accept a question raised by the DPP to discuss You’s disruption.
The DPP motioned a written proposal for Han to investigate the incident, but Chou “threw the proposal back at me ... and told me that he would not accept such a contentless proposal,” she said.
The legislature in a news release said that You on Friday last week entered the second floor of the legislative chamber during a meeting with a press card issued by VAPE Taiwan Inc.
As he verbally insulted several lawmakers while live streaming the meeting, contravening Article 9 of the Legislative Yuan Coverage Rules, the legislature has banned him from covering this legislative session from Monday, it said.
You’s press card was revoked in accordance with Article 7 of Guidelines Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Issuance of Press Pass, the legislature said.
VAPE Taiwan on Jan. 10 applied for press passes for this legislative session, which the legislature granted, categorizing it as an “online newspaper” that has “a public Web site containing regularly updated news coverage for readers,” it said.
The issuance of press passes used to have a maximum limit of 500 in total, but the rule has been loosened since the ninth Legislative Yuan in 2016 in line with the “open legislature” policy, it said.
The number of press cards issued during the ninth Legislative Yuan spiked to 1,707 for the fifth legislative session from 581 for the first session, the legislature said.
Given that the number has risen to 2,018 for the eighth session of the 10th Legislative Yuan, the 2,197 press cards granted for this session — the third session of the 11th Legislative Yuan — are within a reasonable range compared with previous years, it said.
VAPE Taiwan applied for 13 press passes for this session, a source who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
The 13 holders of VAPE Taiwan press cards include Taiwan People’s Party members, You and another New Party member, the source said.
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