freedom of speech & expression in   Taiwan   ★  
press/news "credibility deficit" is "a real Achilles heel of Taiwanese democracy"
     ★   world No. 1 in   2020~25,  2017~19,  2016,  2015,  2014,  2013,  2010~12     ★  Top  since 1998   ★  
　


fights for rights

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Taiwan

                Taiwan free expression

 in poor shape

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★ Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Director General Thibaut Bruttin called for media reforms to address the lack of editorial independence in newsrooms, which had undermined the media's credibility.  The polarized and politicized media had resulted a credibility crisis in journalism in Taiwan, citing the Digital News Report issued by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.  Only 33 percent of respondents said they trusted most news most of the time.     Bruttin described the "credibility deficit" in a recent op-ed as "a real Achilles heel of Taiwanese democracy";  "freedom is not necessarily something that sums up what journalism is" .  Taiwan must work on preventing its journalism industry from being "weaponized" against democracy,  Bruttin warns against "narratives that are obeying vested interests, either commercial or ideological, or geopolitical".   rpt. by CNA (2024-10-20).
　

★  Taiwan is constantly tagging people with label "China's men" (紅帽子)
United Daily (聯合報), 2025-1-4 Nowadays, in everywhere in Taiwan, any Taiwanese who doubts the US would do nothing to stop the conflict between two sides of the Taiwan Straits (袖手旁觀) will be labeled "Red Cap" (China's cooperator) and“America Skepticism" (「疑美論」) by the internet army, in other words,  those people have political loyalty issues.
  張競／中華戰略學會資深研究員  udn.com/news/story/121823/8467650?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub121823_pulldownmenu_v2
Newsweek, 2025-1-3 對中国採取強硬態度的川普表示，他不會保衛台灣免受中国的侵害  Trump, who positioned himself as being tough on China, has suggested he would not defend Taiwan from China.

★ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices  - Taiwan , 2024-4-22  state.gov/reports/2023-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/taiwan/  :  Defamation and public humiliation were criminal offenses.  Reporters faced the threat of legal action under the liberal libel laws.  The Constitutional Court upheld the constitutionality of the law.  On July 21, an opposition party presidential campaign chief filed a criminal libel lawsuit against the president of Sanlih E-television and two of its reporters for alleging that the presidential nominee met with officials of another opposition party to discuss teaming up for the 2024 presidential election.  Taiwan journalists reported difficulty publishing content critical of the PRC.

　

　

pic. :  No.1 "freedom of speech in Taiwan" on Yandex ,2025-1-5, 2024-9-4, 2024-5-15, 2024-4-8, 2024-3-13, 2024-1-4, 2023-12-14, 2023-10-13, 2023-6-21, 2023-4-2, 2023-2-5

　

   pic. : No1 "free speech in Taiwan"on Yandex of Russia ,2025-1-5, 2024-9-4, 2024-5-15, 2024-4-8, 2024-3-13, 2024-1-4, 2023-12-14, 2023-10-13, 2023-6-21, 2023-4-2, 2023-2-5, 2022-5-29;No.2 "freedom of speech in Taiwan" at 2022-8-22; No.3 at 2022-8-22

　

　

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Chair of TPP, the third largest political party, experienced abuses in Taiwan's prosecution
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Council on Foreign Relations, 2024-9-3

Ko Wen-je──accuses the government of attempting to “suppress” its opponents and the press and judiciary of “being the government’s political tools.”
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Asia Nikkei (Japan), 2024-9-5
Taiwan's Ko Wen-je accuses government of witch hunt ... and launched broadsides against the legal system and the press, accusing them of doing the bidding of President Lai Ching-te's Democratic Progressive Party..."the judiciary and the media being the government's political tools" ( the KMT's most powerful lawmaker, that most legal professionals only listen to the DPP)
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cti-news video, 2024-9-3		  Ko Wen-je: today's judiciary and media are tools for politics and ruling the country (今天的司法跟媒體不是政治工具嗎? 不是統治工具嗎? 我有講錯嗎? 怎國家變成這個樣子?)   youtube.com/watch?v=vSpc6xmIHmo

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★ Council on Foreign Relations,  2024-5-13 :  According to  a   Reuters Institute survey, only 27 percent of Taiwanese respondents trust most news media most of the time, ranking it last in the Asia-Pacific region.

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 ★ Reporters sans frontieres  2024
World Press Freedom Index  -  main countries in Asia & Pacific
 The press freedom situation has worsened in the Asia-Pacific region
Country Index Global Score Country Index Global Score
Australia 39 73.42 Malaysia 107 52.07
Bangladesh 165 27.64 New Zealand 19 79.72
Myanmar 171 24.41 Philippines 134 43.36
China 172 23.36 Samoa 22 78.41
S. Korea 62 64.87 Singapore 126 47.19
India 159 31.28 Taiwan 27 76.13
Indonesia 111 51.15 Thailand 87 58.12
Japan 70 62.12 Timor-Leste 20 78.92
/rsf.org/en/region/asia-pacific Vietnam 174 22.31

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★ United Daily (聯合報) , 2024-5-15: Tsai Ing-wen frequently accused criticisms of the government of "fake news" and "cognitive warfare"; Tsai has made maximum of Article 63 "Crime of Spreading Rumour" of "The Social Order Maintenance Act" (《社會秩序維護法》), as a result, the number of nationals investigated and punished  was dozens or hundreds times more than that in the past, created chilling effect against democracy.   udn.com/news/story/7338/7964401?from=udn_ch2_menu_v2_main_cate

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★ United Daily (聯合報) , 2024-5-18:  Being vassals of the ruling party,  the law enforcement gov. have targeted those  (including ordinary people) who criticize policies or dissent. udn.com/news/story/7338/7971836?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2   

　

　

　

pic. :  "free expression in Taiwan" ranks No.1 on Yandex , 2025-2-4, 2025-1-5; "freedom of expression in Taiwan" ranks No.1 on Yandex , 2024-9-4, 2024-5-15, 2024-4-8, 2024-3-13, 2024-1-4, 2023-10-13, 2023-6-21, 2023-4-2, 2023-2-5, 1-25-2020

　

　

  

pic. :  "freedom of speech in Taiwan"  (Chinese version "台灣言論自由")
ranks No.1 on Yandex, 2025-1-5;  "freedom of speech in Taiwan"
 ranks No.2 on Yandex of Russia , 2024-9-4,  2024-5-15, 2024-1-4

　

　

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★ Reporters Without Borders (RSF) , 2023-12-13: Taiwan is a country that suffers from one of the lowest trust rates in the media among democracies (28%) and where the media community is often criticised for disregarding journalism ethics... journalists suffer from a very polarised media environment dominated by sensationalism and the pursuit of profit at the expense of quality news reporting.
RSF reiterates its recommendations:

(1) Establish regulations that effectively protect the independence of editorial departments ； strengthen the National Communications Commission’s independence
(2) Establish regulations against disinformation；create a process that includes judicial review
(3) reinforce the guarantees of their editorial independence so that they cannot be suspected of political bias
(4) Support the emergence of new media outlets that aim to uphold journalistic ethics
(5) Emphasise critical thinking and media literacy in academic curricula and public education actions

rsf.org/en/taiwans-general-elections-rsf-urges-candidates-strengthen-country-s-media-sector-against

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★  China Times (中國時報) , 2024-4-7: President-elect William Lai (Lai Ching-te) intimidates Taiwanese people into restricting freedom of speech, and shapes those speech against the government into engaging in cognitive warfare...  Any message or speech that is unfavorable to the government or advantageous for the enemy will be regarded as enemy's "collaborator"  engaging in the cognitive warfare and will be smeared and discredited。 Recently the President of Legislative Yuan 韓國瑜 on his Facebook mentioned "Taiwan region", criticized by pan-Green as echoing CCP's "One China" propaganda.  chinatimes.com/opinion/20240407002778-262101?chdtv

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★ China Times (中國時報) , 2024-3-12: The minister of National Defence defines "(China's) local cooperator" as whoever's messages or words are to our disadvantage and to the opposite side's advantage,  for our initial judgment (「任何訊息、言論對我不利，對對方有利，初步就認為是在地協力者」)。Therefore, in the future, any criticism or opinion on the government may be put a "(China's)  cooperator" label on, which leads to chilling effect.  chinatimes.com/opinion/20240312004516-262101?chdtv

★

★ United Daily (聯合報) , 2024-3-17:  The minister of National Defense says the prosecution/police and investigation will eventually determine whether or not the suspect is a "local cooperator", which scares the public as long as the state apparatus getting involved and the selected citizens going through a long time legal process.  Only the good news rather than the bad is exactly what the ruler expect - a chilling effect.  (只要啟動檢調警國家機器，就足以收震懾威嚇之效；再經司法程序一路折騰，即使還其清白，也已被剥掉幾層皮。只准報喜不許唱憂，正是統治者要的寒蟬效應！) udn.com/news/story/7338/7836324?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2

★

★ US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 2023-3-20 (state.gov/reports/2022-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/taiwan/):
Defamation and public humiliation are criminal offenses.  Reporters faced the threat of legal action under the liberal libel laws.

　

　

★ Taiwan media
Vice presidential election debate (2024-1-1), Jaw's comments such a bad media environment is caused by the ruling party's "big stick & carrot" policy - those disobedient media , e.g., cti TV (中天) was forced to be closed,  obedient media will be given money - hundreds of millions and billions, therefore, nearly 80% of media are pro-DPP Green media, doing propaganda for the government. Furthermore, the DPP government raised a bunch of internet celebrities and netizens to slander the opposition.  Before taking the power, the DPP party advocated 100% freedom of speech, after having power, they suppress dissidents and media by using all possible means
United Daily 聯合報  (2024-1-3) udn.com/news/story/123307/7682144?from=udn_ch2cate6638sub123307_pulldownmenu_v2 ♦ 銘傳大學scholar杜聖聰says: media bribery is getting more and more serious, so as the chilling effect, the government is open for the internet army, it's harder and harder for the public to see the truth.
♦ 國立台灣藝術大學scholar賴祥蔚says: TV news bias are worse and worse - ＮＣＣ seems to turn a blind eye to it.
♦ 政大傳播學院scholar鄭自隆says：political commentary programs took extreme positions, supervision is unbalanced

　

★ China Times (中國時報) , 2024-3-15: Restoration of Fascism /  Hitler formed a black shirt army (Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale) to deal with dissidents in the form of civil violence, and even searched the writers' study and manuscripts, which is essentially similar to what some group supported by DPP government did；Since taking the office, Tsai suppressed the opposition in the name of transitional justice, and enacted some 'deterrent' laws such as the Anti-Infiltration Law to consolidate its power. brief

　

★ United Daily (聯合報 社論) , 2022-10-28:  In recent years, it's quite common to see internet army attacking public figures, internet celebrities, or victims' family members for their speeches to question the government's policy or  actions.  More and more people feel the freedom of speech on public issues is less and less.  udn.com/news/story/7338/7535201?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2

　

★ Reuters Report (reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2023/taiwan)
    Pay for online news : 13%;  Trust in news overall: 28%; Trust in news I use: 35%; Trust score in 2017/2018: 31%, score in 2022/2023: 28%.   Due to the intense competition in the media market and the interventions of owners, trust in news (28%) remains among the lowest in our survey. In the polarised media landscape, many brands with political colours are less trusted, whereas business publications tend to have higher levels of trust. PTS (55%) remains one of the most trusted brands this year, after internal improvements.

★  RSF, <Reporters Sans Frontieres>, France, 2023: Taiwan's World Press Freedom Index - score 75.54, rank 35.

　

★  China Times (中國時報, 社論), 2023-4-10: The DPP (民進黨) raised a large number of flankers and internet army to bully and persecute dissidents, therefore the chilling effect becomes more serious, and Taiwan's freedom of speech retreats a lot ! (「數位中介法」捲土重來創造聲勢。長期下來，寒蟬效應益加明顯，台灣的言論自由出現嚴重的倒退)。chinatimes.com/opinion/20230410004586-262101?chdtv

　

　

★ US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 2022-4-12 (state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/taiwan/):
nCTi News was forced off the air after the National Communications Commission declined to renew its broadcast license. Opposition politicians and some academics and commentators claimed the decision was politically motivated retaliation for CTi News’ criticism of the ruling party.
 n Reporters faced online bullying and the threat of legal action, particularly under the liberal libel laws. These provisions allow the subjects of unfavorable press coverage to press criminal and civil charges directly against journalists and media outlets for defamation.
 n  In May the Supreme Court rejected the appeal of Chia-yu Lee, who was convicted of inciting individuals to burn the Republic of China flag in 2020 after a lower court initially acquitted him on the grounds that his act was a form of constitutionally protected speech.
 n PRC reportedly continued to influence Taiwan media outlets through pressure on the business interests of their parent companies in the PRC. Taiwan journalists reported difficulty publishing content critical of the PRC.

　

★ China Times, 2023-10-12: The ruling party allows no people to suspect the government, otherwise it will send internet army or flunkeys, or the prosecutions, police, investigation, to threaten freedom of speech ( 不准人民懷疑政府，動輒發動網軍側翼，給批評民進黨的人戴「紅帽子」，用檢警調公權力威脅民眾言論自由，終極目的在打造「一言堂」)

chinatimes.com/opinion/20231012005273-262101?chdtv 

★ China Times, 2023-11-25: The government uses national budget to buy the media, uses the National Communications Council to attack dissidents, and shut down CTI TV (中天電視) Station. Moreover, the new "National Security Laws" (「國安五法」)  revised in the Legislative Yuan to comprehensively attack political opponents.  All actions are contrary to democracy. 

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★ China Times, (中時) 2023-12-11: Taiwan government manipulating information leads to a crisis: (1) internet army and flunkey blacken many opponents' name (2) Taiwan president、members of parliament、law makers selectively disclose and subtly use particular information to piece together a distorted facts or just to make lies.  e.g., 跳電不是缺電；不是走私是超買；放無薪假釋為減班休息； 排放核汙水稱讚微量元素有益健康  brief chinatimes.com/opinion/20231211004314-262101?chdtv

★

★ RSF, <Reporters Sans Frontieres>, France, 2022-5-3

Taiwan's press freedom situation has been "impaired" by some "serious problems,". The political polarization of the media in Taiwan and the sensational approach that Taiwanese media takes to report certain news has posed an "obstacle" to the public getting factual and objective information.   RSF had for the past year repeatedly called for Taiwan's government to take some measures to address these problems, such as providing some serious funding for public broadcasters without compromising such entities' editorial independence.  So far, nothing really ambitious has been taken, only been mostly speaking or supporting some small-scale initiatives. The working environment for journalists in Taiwan was "quite toxic" and that such a situation continued to impact Taiwan's press freedom.
 In East Asia, which includes Taiwan, China, South Korea, North Korea, Japan, and Mongolia, the press freedom situation is "getting worse" .   Taiwan got No. 38 place in Press Freedom Index 2022.  brief focustaiwan.tw/politics/202205030011      rsf.org/en/index
　

Foreign Policy (foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/10/taiwan-election-tsai-disinformation-china-war-fake-news-hitting-wrong-targets/)
nTaiwan, Cedric Alviani ( director, Reporters Without Borders) noted, regularly places among the top Asian countries in RSF's annual Press Freedom Index—but it's not because the Taiwanese media is so outstanding.” Instead, he said, it is “because the whole of Asia is run by strongmen, by dictatorships".
n coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ): When the (Taiwan) government is in a position to declare something ‘fake news,’ it just opens the door to abuse.
nRSF: “In no case can the executive power take the responsibility to decide what is fake news and what is legitimate news,”  “By finding scapegoats, blaming China, and not solving the problem, Taiwan is actually letting the gap narrow between itself and China.”

　

　

　

　

    pic. :  The website was ranked No.1 by "freedom of speech in Taiwan"
on Microsoft Bing,2023-10-13, 2023-6-21, 2023-2-5, 2022-8-22, 2022-2-7,2021-8-5, 2021-6-24, 2021-5-9, 2021-4-22, 3-18-2021, 1-1-2021, 12-2-2020; No.2 at 2022-5-29;
No.1 "free speech in Taiwan" on Bing, 2023-6-21

　

　

　

★ Today's persecutions in Taiwan
Law maker (2023-6-2): What an authoritarian era !? (「這是什麼威權時代嗎」)
★news (2023-6-3) :  Dr. Su Hung-dah (蘇宏達), dean of the College of Social Sciences, National Taiwan University, reveals he was threatened by National Security Bureau ( state machine ) that "we can watch your LINE ( the predominant texting on-line app. in Japan and Taiwan, similar to FB message) "  during the review process to examine major politicians' theses.  Eventually, NTU Evaluation Committee said 林智堅 (Lin Chih-chien), HsinChu ex-mayor and the ruling party's candidate for TaoYuan mayor copied thesis, and vice premier 鄭文燦  (Cheng wen-Tsan) was found plagiarism, besides, ex-chief of National Security Bureau, an advisor of both politicians was reported joining the cheating scandal.  udn.com/news/story/6656/7209585?from=udn_ch2cate6638sub6656_pulldownmenu_v2  taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2022/08/10/2003783288

★ Foreign Policy, 2020-1-10 :  the university professor Su Hung-dah said he received a police notice after posting a video this past November accusing the DPP of trying to destroy Taiwan’s National Palace Museum, which contains Chinese artifacts...The KMT ...said the DPP was curtailing “freedom of speech and freedom of privacy,” while a KMT spokeswoman referred to reports of citizens being summoned by police as a “green terror.” foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/10/taiwan-election-tsai-disinformation-china-war-fake-news-hitting-wrong-targets/

 AFP (2011-12-1), Yahoo Singapore (Nov. 30, 2011) and media in Australia, Ireland, Thailand (Bangkok Post) etc reported National Taiwan university professor Ruey-shiung Lin (林瑞雄) claimed magnetic attacks by Taiwan's intelligence

　

★ Reuters Report 2022
　 proportion that trusts
 most news
most of the time		 proportion who
mostly read news
 in text		 proportion who
think news org.s
in their market
are politically
 far apart		 proportion who
accessed news
via email in
the last week
Thailand 53 56 48 16
Japan 44 67 26 13
Singapore 43 65 16 16
Australia 41 61 29 17
Hong Kong 41 60 36 14
India 41 58 33 　
Indonesia 39 69 18 13
Philippines 37 47 32 18
Malaysia 36 63 23 15
S. Korea 30 58 15 10
Taiwan 27 54 38 12
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2022-06/Digital_News-Report_2022.pdf

　

★ Reuters Report, 2022
weekly reach off line and online

news

 TV, radio, print news on-line
TVBS News 45 Yahoo News 40
Eastern Broadcasting News 38 ETtoday 38
SanLih E-television News 32 TVBS online 34
Trust in news (27%) has fallen back after last year’s COVID-19 boost, and remains amongst the lowest in our multi-market survey. In a deeply polarised media landscape, many brands are trusted by one group but distrusted by another. Notable exceptions are business publications CommonWealth and Business Weekly, which have increased their trust levels, bucking overall trends


　

★ Reuters Report, 2022
Brand trust in Taiwan

No.1 CommonWealth , No.2 Business Weekly, No.3 Economic Daily, No. 4 PTS, No.5 TVBS,
No.6 UDN, No.7 Ettoday.net, No.8 EBC, No.9 TTV, No.10 CTS, No.11 Apple Daily,
No.12 LTN, No.13 Formosa TV

　

　

Trust in news ?   Reuters Institute, 2021
Trust in news overall    31% Trust in news I used   38%
Trust in news  in search 29% Trust in social media   21%
Public service television remains the most trusted in our survey, followed by the economic news media (CommonWealth and Business Weekly). The rest of the news brands in the polarised media landscape are trusted by one group, but distrusted by another.

　

★ justsecurity.org, Focus Taiwan, Taipei Times, etc, 2022-5-13: Invited by Taiwan's government, an international human rights experts panel conducted a five-day review from May 9-13 in Taipei of the country's implementation of two United Nations' human rights-related covenants, namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
freedom of speech and of peaceful protest continues to be unduly restricted.

　

　

★  Taiwan News, 2023-2-26: Taiwan defense ministry  announced  that it submitted a revised draft of the “All-out Defense Mobilization Readiness Act." for tighter controls over media and communications (taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4822226).  China Times (中國時報), editorial, 2023-2-27: Taiwan's government rationalizes the Mobilization Readiness Act by exaggerating current status to be a de facto state of war, so as to monitor Taiwanese thoughts and press freedom anytime and anywhere.  (chinatimes.com/opinion/20230227002882-262101?chdtv)    United Daily, 2023-2-26: DPP government will defines "fake information", not only media, but also institutions of education, research, industry, and medical all suffer.  (udn.com/news/story/11091/6996779?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub11091_pulldownmenu_v2)

　

★  China Times (中國時報), editorial, 2023-2-3:  The ruling party will enhance its strength to criticize the opposition, anti-Independence, etc, to label the dissident (抹紅) as pro-China, "doubt in US' reliability"(疑美) , Taiwan-betrayal,  in the battlefield of Cognitive Warfare。 chinatimes.com/opinion/20230203003707-262101?chdtv   PS: Voice of America (2023-1-26)   : According to a recent poll conducted by Taiwan island-based academic institution Academia Sinica, doubt in US' reliability is bubbling within Taiwan society, with 56.6 percent of Taiwan residents finding the US untrustworthy

voachinese.com/a/polls-show-that-56-6-of-taiwanese-find-the-u-s-untrustworthy-20230126/6934924.html

　

★  China Times (中國時報), editorial,  2022-12-12: cti News (中天) is like the first domino, then the press freedom kept declining...  For living up, the government's usual practice is to support the DPP-friendly media and eliminate those media uncontrolled, If still fails, they will apply old ploy ─ smearing, tarring with red brush by pan-Green media, flankers and internet army to destroy its influence on the public... NCC is willing to be a thug to purge those media...  (因為要繼續掌權吃香喝辣，民進黨政府的一貫作法是扶持「友好」媒體，消滅無法控制的媒體，消滅不了的話，就用綠媒、側翼、網軍進行抹黑或抹紅，以摧毀其對民眾的影響力，NCC甘願成為替當權者整肅異議媒體的打手)   chinatimes.com/opinion/20221211002487-262101?chdtv brief

　

★  China Times (中國時報), editorial, 2022-10-3:  From Presidential Office, to Executive Yuan, Legislative Yuan, Control Yuan, Judicial systems, ... news media suppose to remain independent position, which one is not a puppet giving service to politics ?  (從總統府...到作為第四權，應具有獨立地位的新聞媒體，哪一個不是為政治服務的儡傀？在這種情勢下，台灣的民主淪落到什麼地步了？)   chinatimes.com/opinion/20221002004587-262101?chdtv

　

★  United Daily, editorial, 2022-6-5: Since DPP winning legislative majority for the first time in 2016,  Taiwan's government kept abusing human rights, including suppressing freedom of expression, or restricting personal freedom in the name of national security, the means they took are no less than the authoritarian period they accused.  udn.com/news/story/7338/6364498?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2

　

★ United Daily (聯合報) , 2022-10-13: KMT chair:  president Tsai let internet army freely attack all the people, manipulates freedom of expression, limits freedom of expression...  udn.com/news/story/6656/6682206?from=udn_ch2cate6638sub6656_pulldownmenu_v2

　

★  United Daily, editorial, 2022-9-30:  Mirror TV's license was revealed to be 'offered' from "the president's will"... In the past two years, 90+% of the TV news stations have become 'standard equipment' for the Green Camp factions, and joined every single political struggle. They merely report the good news and cover the bad news for the ruling party... udn.com/news/story/7338/6650934?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2

　

★  China Times, editorial, 2022-9-30: The NCC's media intervention under the order of the ruling party, such as the closure of cti TV channel and 移動頻道, not only undermines the professional autonomy of the media, violates freedom of speech, but also violates the basic principles of a democratic country chinatimes.com/opinion/20220929005148-262101?chdtv

　

★ Focus Taiwan, 2022-8-20:   A NCC's proposed bill to regulate the content of online platforms has been shelved, amid heavy criticism from service providers and the public, who have expressed concerns about the implications for free speech, privacy and the future of the internet industry.  focustaiwan.tw/politics/202208200008  United Daily , 2022-8-22 : How many percent does our freedom of speech left if  the proposed bill「數位中介服務法」put into practice.  udn.com/news/story/11091/6554017?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub11091_pulldownmenu_v2   China Times , 2022-8-22 : NCC is no longer an independent institution since DPP took office. chinatimes.com/opinion/20220821002737-262101?chdtv

　

★ China Times, editorial, 2022-9-29: The shame of Taiwan's democracy / The majority of public opinion call for closing the NCC; the Tsai Ing-wen government's dirty claws closed CTI TV, and gave pass to Mirror TV.   So many pan-green media, TV celebrity, internet army and  NCC fed and raised by the government gradually damage the foundation of our democracy.  brief chinatimes.com/opinion/20220928005170-262101?chdtv

　

★ United Daily(聯合報) , 2022-5-30, 2022-5-29, editorial:  Taiwan premier Su (蘇貞昌)  reprimands that a TV celebrity Antony Kuo (郭彥均)  sharing a message "Seeing so many children just past away like that" (「看到這麼多孩子，就這樣走」) on his Facebook, Su says the message is a rumor or incorrect information,  and will call him to account,  investigate and deal with the issue accordingly (斥責「不實謠言」，將究責查辦) .   However, according to law-maker's study, during the CovID Omicron outbreak since about April 2022, Taiwan's child case-fatality rate (確診死亡率) is 10 times that of Japan and 8 times that of South Korea, and in Singapore, there's even no any child was dead for CovID-Omicron - therefore, " so many children just past away" is not a rumor or incorrect information.  The public feel disgusted, angry and intolerable at the government's reckless suppression of free speech.  How can Taiwan's adm. calls itself a "government of democracy".  

 udn.com/news/story/7338/6349957?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2

　

★ United Daily(聯合報) , 2022-5-9, editorial  (udn.com/news/story/7338/6298063?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2)

Taiwan's public media is not the main source of information that the public can trust. Taiwan has not done a good job in combating false information, because "fighting against false information does not mean controlling the media." (「打擊不實資訊，不等於控制媒體」)。Taiwan's news reports seem to be free, but in recent years, the speech market has tended to be "Homogeneity" (單一化); particularly, the state apparatus controls the media very deeply, and the government sometimes even takes the lead in falsification.  COA (農委會) is the initiator of the Internet Army,  in 2019 DPP election, current vice president Lai (賴清德) once urged Tsai Ing-wen's online army to stop attacking him.  At that time, "the president's internet army" had become an open secret. Nowadays, the government spending public money to support its own Internet army is what the public feel unhappy.

　

　

　

　

　

    pic. :  No.1 "freedom of speech in Taiwan" on Yahoo,2023-2-5, 2022-2-7, 2021-8-5, 2021-6-24, 2021-5-9, 2021-4-22, 3-18-2021, 12-2-2020, 11-19-2020; No.2 "freedom of speech in Taiwan" at 2022-8-22, 2022-2-7 ;The website was ranked No.1 by "freedom of expression in Taiwan", on Yahoo Taiwan, 2022-5-29;  The sites group was ranked No.1 by "Taiwan freedom of expression" on Yahoo Taiwan, 2021-6-23, 11-19-2020, 3-29-2019

　

　

  The htm file in my computer has been attacked by pro. hackers for a long time, therefore each time I need to modify and upload backup file to hosting in Euro.  Who has the motivation ?    In May 2022, I experienced sort of  electromagnetic attacks.

★US  Country Reports on Human Rights Practices , 2021-3-30

        state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/taiwan/


 Censorship or Content Restrictions: Officials in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) influenced Taiwan media outlets through pressure on the business interests of their parent companies in the PRC. Taiwan journalists reported difficulty publishing content critical of the PRC, alleging that PRC authorities had pressured Taiwan businesses with operations in China to refrain from advertising with Taiwan media outlets which published such material. To punish Taiwan media outlets deemed too critical of PRC policies or actions, the PRC would subject their journalists to heightened scrutiny at Chinese ports of entry or deny them entry to China. PRC actors also targeted the computers and mobile phones of Taiwan journalists for cyberattacks.
Opposition politicians and some media outlets criticized these provisions (a new law criminalized receiving direction or funding from prohibited Chinese sources to conduct political activities) as overly broad and potentially detrimental to freedom of expression, including for the press.
Opposition politicians and some academics and commentators claimed NCC’s decision not to renew the license was politically motivated retaliation for CTi News’ criticism of the ruling party.

　

★ RSF, <Reporters Sans Frontieres>, France, 2021-4-20 :  2021 World Press Freedom Index -  Taiwan No. 43
 Political interference is rare and less tolerated, but Taiwan’s journalists are suffering from a very polarised media environment dominated by sensationalism and the pursuit of profit. Although President Tsai Ing-wen has said she wants to continue developing press freedom in Taiwan, few concrete measures have been taken to improve journalists’ editorial independence and encourage media to raise the quality of the public debate. Beijing is exploiting this weakness by putting pressure on Taiwanese media owners, who often have business interests on the mainland. Beijing is also suspected of orchestrating online disinformation campaigns – a threat that could lead to questionable retaliatory measures by Taiwan such as refusing visas to Chinese journalists regarded as hostile 。rsf.org/en/2021-world-press-freedom-index-journalism-vaccine-against-disinformation-blocked-more-130-countries

　

★ International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2021 Global State of Democracy

(idea.int/gsod/sites/default/files/2021-11/spotlight-on-taiwan-gsod2021.pdf)
SPOTLIGHT ON TAIWAN

PANDEMIC AND MEDIA INTEGRIT   /   social media, which arguably plays an even more important role in official messaging than its mainstream media counterparts

　

★ In the websites you could see so many lay-outs and characters being shown wrongly for hackers' attacks, for example, Taiwan judiciary, Judicial/legal system (intlhumanrights.com) ,  Comment Taiwan CovID ,  CovID-19 booster policy was deleted by hackers  Feb. 7, 2022

◎

　

　

　

　

　

    pic. :  The website-group was ranked No.1 by "freedom of expression in Taiwan"on Microsoft Bing, 2023-2-5, 2022-5-29, 2022-2-7, 2021-8-5, 2021-6-24, 2021-5-9, 2021-4-22, 3-18-2021, 1-1-2021, 12-2-2020; No.3 at 2022-8-22

    No.1 "free expression in Taiwan" on Yahoo, 2021-8-5, The website-group was ranked top by "freedom of expression in Taiwan"on Yahoo search engine,2021-5-9, 2021-4-22, 3-18-2021, 1-1-2021, 12-2-2020; No.2 at 2022-2-7,2021-6-24

　

　

    pic. :  The website was ranked No.1 by "Taiwan freedom of speech"on Microsoft Bing,2023-2-5, 2022-2-6, 2021-6-23, 12-2-2020, 11-20-2020, 9-5-2020;The website was ranked No.1 by "Taiwan freedom of expression"
on Microsoft Bing, 2022-2-6,2021-6-23, 12-2-2020, 11-20-2020, 9-5-2020

　

    pic. :  The website was ranked No.1 by "free expression in Taiwan" on US Google , 3-11-2020, 7-23-2019; The website was ranked No.1 by "freedom of expression in Taiwan"  on US Google , 3-11-2020

　

　

          

 pic. :  The website-group was ranked No.1 by "freedom of expression in Taiwan"on Baidu of China,2021-5-9

　

　

　

 　

                                                           
　

　

★ Global Times, 2021-3-29 : Taiwan DPP's dark "online army" underbelly in misinformation campaign /   At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the infamous "online army" masterminded an attack against the World Health Organization (WHO),  the DPP's "online army" which manipulated and meddled in an online public opinion field of more than 20 million people on the island.  GT found out that the departments affiliated to the DPP administration and relevant foundations are the financial supporters and "base camp" for these online "army" forces.  "The DPP can collude with social media such as PTT, Facebook, print media, electronic media, and TV programs".    globaltimes.cn/page/202103/1219763.shtml

　

★   South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), 1-3-2021: Taiwan’s ban on books, TV shows ‘the work of the thought police’, co-founder of ruling party says  /  Former DPP legislator – and one of the party’s founders – Lin Cheng-chieh: “Banning a children’s book, taking CTi news channel off the air and [planning to] censor Chinese publications are the work of the thought police, which was something the KMT did in the past, and I never expected the Democratic Progressive Party government to do the same thing, “The DPP used to fight for 100 per cent freedom of speech and the news media when it was still the opposition.     https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3116094/taiwans-ban-books-tv-shows-work-thought-police-co-founder   

　

★ Voice of America, 11-26-2020 :  Taiwan Killed a TV News Broadcasting License Despite Legal Freedom of Speech because the openly pro-China outlet had aired inaccurate reports (such as a report that farmers had discarded pomelo fruit in a reservoir ) and ignored warnings to reform.  CTi News broadcasts pro-China material – unpopular with much of the island’s population – as well as criticism of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party.  Reporters Without Borders (RSF, <Reporters Sans Frontieres>, France) said in a statement that it “regrets” the license revocation because it affects the CTi News staff. It asked the commission to disclose all evidence that renewing CTi's license would have endangered the public.  The media should take a government watchdog role but not just put out content that suits in-house agendas, At the same time, the commission’s move doesn’t violate press freedom. CTi  called the license revocation “illegal” and cited lack of “due process” as well as “flimsy reasoning.”  The National PolicyFoundation, attributed the decision to politics. "Although the National Communications Commission will never put 'political censorship' as their main reason to shut down CTi, it's an open secret to everyone".    (brief)  www.voanews.com/press-freedom/why-taiwan-killed-tv-news-broadcasting-license-despite-legal-freedom-speech  

★


 ★  Taiwan Shuts Pro-China TV Channel in Battle over Press Freedom
　
media

  Cti TV side

NCC side
Reuters 11-18-2020 ...citing evidence of interference from a Beijing-friendly tycoon amid fears over China's campaign to win support on the island.
there was no evidence that CTi had received Chinese government funding.  and key shareholder Tsai has previously rejected accusations of newroom interference.

Taiwan's main opposition party, said it opposed the decision, as it could have a "chilling effect, strongly impacting press freedom"

 CTi had been fined for several violations such as failure to check facts and endangering the public interest
Bloomberg 11-18-2020 Taiwan Shuts Pro-China TV Channel in Battle over Press Freedom
TV station says its closure is politically motivated
the latest example of the often fraught relationship between press freedom and concerns over Chinese influence in Taiwan’s fiercely competitive media landscape.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-18/f-16-disappears-off-taiwan-s-eastern-coast-fate-still-unclear		 NCC says Chung T’ien News violated broadcast regulations     The key issue is its largest shareholder Tsai Eng-meng is directly and indirectly involved in the production of news programs
　
Guardian, 11-18-2020 “Today is the darkest day for freedom of the press and freedom of speech in the 30 years since Taiwan’s liberation,”
CTi has been accused of acting as a mouthpiece for Beijing and lobbying against the Democratic Progressive party (DPP) government, led by Tsai Ing-wen, and in favour of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/18/pro-china-tv-station-in-taiwan-ordered-off-air-over-disinformation		 Pro-China TV station in Taiwan ordered off air  after Taiwan’s media regulator found it had failed to address serious and frequent findings of bias and disinformation.
CTi had devoted 70% of its airtime to the KMT mayor of Kaohsiung, Han Kuo-yu, who unsuccessfully challenged Tsai in the presidential election. In January, CTi was fined  for airing false statements by a KMT politician without factchecking or interrogating the claims before broadcast
AFP, Yahoo News Australia, 11-18-2020 Many of the large media outlets are openly partisan, backing Beijing-friendly politicians or their opponents
"It is completely and utterly hypocritical for governments to invoke press freedom only when it fits their agenda," tweeted KMT chairman Johnny Chiang.
　
It called for NCC to make public all the evidence it examined and apply the same standards to all future license reviews regardless of their political orientation.https://au.news.yahoo.com/taiwan-pulls-plug-china-friendly-100647362.html 
He has sparked criticism in the past for being overtly pro-Beijing and imposing his political preferences on the media outlets he owns.
The NCC accused Tsai of making direct and indirect interventions in news coverage by CTi.

One example was a false report that local farmers had to dump massive quantities of pomelo fruit last year because they were unable to sell their produce to mainland China as relations soured.
Times of India, 11-18-2020 The channel, which vowed to fight the decision in court, says the government is seeking to silence those who do not support its policies. Taiwan's government has repeatedly said China has stepped up efforts, including a media campaign, to infiltrate and gain influence on the democratic island
SCMP, 11-18-2020 CTI: The Tsai government has closed CTi; press freedom is dead! CTi is seen as pro-China and the decision marks the first time the regulator has effectively shut down a television news station  It cited evidence of editorial interference from major shareholder Tsai Eng-meng
The Straits Times, 11-18-2020
The rejection of CTi cable's request is the first time Taiwan has shut, even though indirectly, a television news station since the regulator, the National Communications Commission was set up in 2006.
The decision provoked immediate anger from CTi and Taiwan's main opposition party, which called it an attack on media freedom.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/taiwan-cti-cable-shut-down-china-tycoon-tsai-eng-meng-13585436
 CTi had been fined for several violations such as failure to check facts and endangering the public interest
Focus on Taiwan, 11-18-2020 at the time of the hearing that the Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) government was looking to close the station, effectively threatening Taiwan's media freedom
CTiTV called the day "the darkest" for the freedom of press and speech since martial law was lifted over 30 years ago.
In denying the license renewal based on two reasons -- the number of complaints that led to fines imposed on the station and the interference of a major shareholder -- the NCC "ignored the issue of political manipulation and disregarded communication theory and practice," CTiTV said.
"Under the NCC's current standards, every news stations in Taiwan should be shut down,"
 Though CTi News submitted eight measures during the review process to improve the situation, Chen contended that none of them would have eliminated the interference of major shareholders in its news.
China Times, editorial 11-19-2020
Freedom of the press is dead! ! !
The ruling authorities ignored the Constitution's guarantees for freedom of speech. The National Communications Commission (NCC) betrayed the establishment purpose of the Constitutional Freedom of Speech stipulated in Article 1 of its Organic Law and decided to shut down the CTI News Channel. This was a naked, a blatant political ruling.  NCC finished the assignment Taiwan president Tsai gave.

In the 2018 elections, CTI TV stood on the opposite side of the ruling party. As a result, the DPP suffered a fiasco, the authorities grew enmity and decided to revenge CTI.

The reasons NCC claimed for shutting down the CTI  are completely ignorant of media practice and even violate the basic principles of communication. If the same standards are used,  should all news stations in Taiwan be shut down?  The gov, wants to kill one to scare many, and forces all media to follow the authorities, otherwise the same would be the case.

   United Daily, China Times, Apple Daily, Liberty Times are four major news in Taiwan.
UDN, editorial, 11-19-2020 NCC  passed the elimination of CTi News with "no objection" . Another symbolic meaning is: this is a "beheading" of Taiwan's freedom of speech, because the DPP government no longer allows "objection."   From today on, NCC is no longer an independent institution !
Apple Daily, editorial, 11-19-2020
We express our regret for NCC's Shutting Cti TV Channel
The National Communications Commission (NCC) rejected the Zhongtian News Channel’s renewal case results in a harm to the image of Taiwan’s press freedom, We express our regret for this.
LTN (pro-DPP) 11-19-2020 no comment

　

★ Digital News Report (2020) by Oxford university (UK) Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism: Only 24% Taiwanese trust in news which remains one of the lowest in Oxford survey.

　

★ RSF, <Reporters Sans Frontieres>, France, (Christophe Deloire, Secretary General ) , LTN, 5-16-2020,  Reporters Without Borders (RSF, Cedric Alviani ),  Taipei Times, 12-17-2019
  It is no secret that the Taiwanese media sector is plagued by sensationalism, undeclared advertising and an unhealthy “blue-green” political polarization that hinders journalism in its role as a balancing power, stirring public distrust. It is not that Taiwan lacks competent journalists, but most of them have to work under undue pressure and cannot count on legal protection against requests from their management that would go against journalistic ethics... Taiwanese government always took "press freedom" as an excuse to ignore them.
   Five measures to reinforce Taiwan’s media:
1) establish regulations that effectively protect the independence of editorial departments from their employers and boards of directors
2) create in law a “duty of care” that would oblige online platforms to protect both users’ freedom of speech, and safety in regards to hate speech and manipulation
3) upscale the amount of financial resources allocated to public media outlets
4) support the emergence of new media outlets that aim to uphold journalistic ethics, through economic and fiscal incentives following a similar model to start-up development
5) emphasize critical thinking and media literacy in academic curricula and public education actions (brief)

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2019/12/17/2003727670

★

★ New York Times,  12-3-2019:  Social media platforms are another key battleground (Chn-TW): Nearly 90 percent of Taiwan’s population is active on them, and traditional news outlets have been known to republish fake posts without fact-checking. According to Reuters, Chinese government agencies have paid Taiwanese news outlets to publish pro-Beijing content.

★ United Daily (聯合報) editorial,  12-5-2020,  udn.com/news/story/7338/5067782?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2

Taiwan government just banned a Chinese graphic book for kids "await dad back home" (「等爸爸回家」) for some contents like slogan "Go Go China ! " (中國加油), "Go Go WuHan !" (武漢加油)、and a PLA plane illustration , which "discomfort" some officials, therefore they must mask children's eyes, and return to "official banned books" days around 50 years ago charged by autocratic government.

★  United Daily, editorial, 12-4-2020,  https://udn.com/news/story/7338/5064783?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2
Taiwanese government intends to ease restriction on imported pigs consuming ractopamine ( a feed additive that’s been banned in more than 150 countries), and suppress opinions by all kinds of means, including fooling ordinary people, attacking the opposition, and forcing innocent businessmen to endorse gov. policy.  

★

★ New York Times, 1-10-2020: Scholars say that Taiwan has been the target of a Russian-style social media disinformation campaign by China, designed to exploit social divisions and undermine democracy.  A study by the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden found that Taiwan was the territory most exposed to foreign disinformation, based on weighted ratings by experts.     <United daily 聯合報> 1-8-2020 editorial: The ruling party gradually normalizes (make it a routine work) 『cyber assassination (網路暗殺)』,  even Taiwanese army, police, national security systems (國安軍警體系) have to participate in "cyber warrior" to infiltrate in internet communities to monitor public opinions (brief).   <United Daily 聯合報> 1-6-2020 : Cyber force ('楊蕙如們') still are doing media-framing by fake messages, getting along with the authorities to do all kinds of cyber-bully, verbal-bully ... trying to make a white by lots of blacks, damage judicial systems, democracy, and degrade nice social morality ... (brief / 聯合筆記陳言喬)   <United Daily> headline news, 1-8-2020 :  KMT presidential candidate Han: The chief of cyber troops is Taiwan president.   

★

★  China Times, editorial <中時社論> ,    3-9-2020

         The gov. suppressed freedom of speech by 4 layers：
　
一、 Political power forms threats (penalty fine and suspending the license) to certain media。
二、 Secretly bullying by cyber force (網軍暗器霸凌)，the victims found no evidences to fight back。
三、 Buying internet celebrities, polls, and personality to lead the public opinions (風向)。
四、 Operating fake news to mix wrong and rightness, the government defines the fake news。  (brief)

★

★ USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, 3-11-2020

Concerns about censorship were limited to efforts by the authorities in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to censor Taiwan media outlets based on the business interests of their parent companies in the PRC.
In May senior PRC officials used the fourth Beijing-Taiwan Media Forum to call on Taiwan media outlets to shape their coverage to promote PRC political priorities.
PRC authorities reinforced corporate pressure on media by using access denial to punish Taiwan media outlets whose coverage they deemed to be insufficiently consistent with PRC policies.
Journalists said they faced pressure from management to submit news stories to complement or support the content of paid advertisements. Critics said product placement under the guise of news reporting undercut objective journalism, restricted journalists’ freedom, and undermined public trust in the media.

★

★ Next TV news (壹電視) 3-10-2020, <年代向錢看>: President of Taiwan Nurse Organization (護理師工會理事長): The freedom of speech was limited/restricted (言論自由被限制 !!)   Some nurses complained on the net that only one piece of face mask per day, then the cyber-force ( usually regarded as government-related ) came and attacked them "quit your job if not happy about that" ("不爽不要做!")， besides, some MDs did not hand in free face masks distributed by organization to nurses, those N95 masks the medical center gave were too large or too small, not safe ! etc.
 ★

★ 中時社論 6-5-2020  ( https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20200604004931-262101?chdtv )

Taiwan has more TV news channels than most other countries, but Taiwan's media environment worsens， particularly, in recent years media were often managed and controlled by political power. NCC, a weirdo institution rarely seen in democratic countries is the main trouble-maker.
Basically, NCC has two measures to deal with those govt.-unfriendly and hostile-forces news stations， one is giving penalty fine, another is giving them a hard time to review and approve review Permit Application, or even cancel their license, CTI (中天) and TVBS are two victims because NCC taking double standards ― they ignored 年代TV station's misleading headline : Taipei mayor's wife had affair by word-play (「柯妻紅杏出牆之戰？因酸阿中」、「啥，佩琪嗆離婚？紅杏？」) . 
Furthermore, NCC illegally put aside or put off TV's internal affairs such as the news position of TVBS Chairman of the Board、CTI director and warden ( 越權，連媒體內部事務，也插手 )， most public opinions still have no idea about NCC speeding up to Infringe the hope of Taiwan's democracy。(brief)

★

★ United Daily (聯合報), 2-5-2020: The cyber force ( to protect the government ) went everywhere to investigate and attack all complaints concerning no place to buy face masks (brief)

★

★ <United Daily > opinion "外交部長不可網民化", 4-11-2020 : Taiwan let cyber-force (netizens) attack WHO chief unchecked or without interfere, eventually probably fail to enter WHO. (放任網民向譚德塞發動攻擊，最後結果可能事與願違。)...  Taiwanese netizens used hate-speech to attack WHO chief, e.g., Nigger、死黑鬼；or "China pig"(「中國豬」), "Beijing Dog" (「北京狗」) on Wiki ...。https://udn.com/news/story/7338/4483673?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2

★

★ The China Times, 4-9-2020 editorial

中時社論》台灣的網路霸凌揚威國際  ( Cyber Bullying from Taiwan came out top in international )
https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20200409005466-262101?chdtv

The phenomenon of cyber bullying in Taiwan is very serious, a huge number of cyber worriers (netizens) run wild against law and reason, ...They have two powerful weapons -  (1) violent language (2) fake news.   a netizen related to the ruling party (DPP) used these two weapons to successfully force an excellent Taiwanese diplomat in Japan to kill himself not long ago.  After Presidential election, the cyber force even attacked international people, therefore became vanguard for Taiwanese government, the latest case is personal attacks WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, ... Taiwan's officials, cyber force, and pan-Green media worked together to do personal attacks and cyber bullying, showing their true color and ugly face to the entire world. (台灣官方、網軍、親綠媒體聯手攻擊，完全超越理性討論問題的範疇，淪為人身攻擊與網絡霸凌，真的是「讓世界看到台灣」) Taiwan cyber-bullying

★  RSF, <Reporters Sans Frontieres> (France ) , 12-16-2019, <無 疆界記者致總統候選人的公開信>: 
　

　

pic.: part of the article
"an open letter to Taiwan's presidential election
candidates"

　

Apple Daily (蘋果日報) 12-16-2019,  brief

　

Taiwan media have been polluted by sensual and embedded advertising ( fake news on the surface, ads. to the bone) for long run, furthermore, political power pan-blue and pan-green polarize the media field and impede the check-and-balance system, some media workers can not expect legal protection while
 facing their boss's orders violating press ethics

　

For full text pls. read Apple Daily

　
　 by Cedrie Alviani , RSF president of Taiwan branch (台灣分會理事長)

　

★

★

★ Washington Post ,  opinions,  3-28-2019

       "The United States must help Taiwan resist Chinese dominance"
      ◆ Pro-Beijing interests have bought up a huge portion of Taiwanese media and coordinate with Beijing to spread propaganda and fake news and manipulate social media. ...

      ◆ here in Taiwan, it’s China that dominates every discussion. Beijing’s malign influence is apparent everywhere, while the United States is seen as largely absent. Washington must wake up to the danger of China’s massive effort to infiltrate, undermine and eventually abolish Taiwan’s democracy ...
The Chinese government uses economic coercion to both recruit and punish Taiwanese leaders. Meanwhile, China is working overtime to strip Taiwan of its diplomatic allies and keep it out of multilateral institutions. Beijing is literally trying to erase the country from the map.

★ Taiwan News, Jun. 9, 2020

　 　

　

　
　 pic.: Taiwanese freedom of speech ?  It's committed crime !!  splashing paints on Hong Kong singer, some other cases are splashing paint on Hong Kongers or Hong Kong escapers, splashing dirt to some Taiwanese house ( police failed to get criminals ) and restaurants, etc.  Very low down !  

　

　

　

　

　

　

    pic. :  The website was ranked No.1 by "freedom of expression in Taiwan" on Yandex of Russia , 1-25-2020;

　

     No.1 "Taiwan freedom of expression" on Yandex of Russia ,
10-25-2019

　

　

　

 　

                                                        

  pic. : No.1 "Taiwan free expression" on Yippy (IBM) , 10-25-2019

　

★

★  New York Times, 11-28-2018, Will Taiwan Be the First Domino to Fall to China?
The research institute of NHK ( Japan’s national broadcaster):  influential media conglomerates in Taiwan have become pro-Beijing; their major shareholders have been given greater business opportunities in China’s vast market.  Major Taiwanese newspapers and TV stations regularly feature content that hardly differs from that in China or routinely heap praise on Chinese leaders...

★

★ US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 3-13-2019 : the impact of the concentration of media ownership on freedom of the press, particularly among companies with People’s Republic of China (PRC) investment, self-censorship continued.  Journalists said they faced pressure from management to submit news stories to complement or support the content of paid advertisements.  Critics said product placement under the guise of news reporting undercut objective journalism, restricted journalists’ freedom, and undermined public trust in the media.  Taipei officials pressured a magazine reporter to drop an investigative report about the city’s breach of personal information for more than 3,000 AIDS patients.

★

★<Reporters Sans Frontieres> (RSF, France) , 4-18-2019:  Taiwan’s journalists are suffering from a very polarized media environment dominated by sensationalism and the pursuit of profit. Although President Tsai Ing-wen has said she wants to continue developing press freedom in Taiwan, few concrete measures have been taken to improve journalists’ editorial independence and encourage media to raise the quality of the public debate. Beijing is exploiting this weakness by putting pressure on Taiwanese media owners, who often have business interests on the mainland.   Beijing is also suspected of orchestrating online disinformation campaigns – a threat that could lead to questionable retaliatory measures by Taiwan such as refusing visas to Chinese journalists regarded as hostile.    Taiwan ranks No. 42 in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index.  https://rsf.org/en/taiwan

★

★ <Apple Daily (蘋果日報)> 3-29-2019, editorial opinion: (https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/daily/20190329/38294369/)

　

pic. left: China Times 3-29-2019 headline news: Defend 100% freedom of speech!  Democracy on the surface, anti-democracy to the bone is not allowed.

pic. right: Apple Daily 3-29-2019 editorial opinion: Democracy & Freedom of speech is the bottom line which should never be lost, the government should not create chilling effect by fishing in trouble water. 

◆

★ <China Times (中國時報)> 3-29-2019 head page: (www.chinatimes.com/opinion/?chdtv)

     The media have freedom to choose sides, but no any side should limit the freedom, Taiwan government should not choose the old route, Orwellian administration.  

◆

★  <Apple Daily>, 11-25-2018,  KMT's "Secret Police" sayings seriously damaged the image of ruling party eventually being handed a major defeat in local elections. (New York Times, 11-23-2018: Taiwan's ruling party was handed a major defeat in local elections)

◆

★ <United Daily (聯合報)> 11-2-2018, headline news
National Security Bureau confirmed their investigations of Facebook's and other's communities on the net, for monitoring, controlling and collecting "controversial information" including those "influence national security",  "blacken ("詆譭", a term of Martial Law period / UDN, 11-3-2018) president", "disrupt social stability", "distort policy" and "disturb national mechanism", "fight governmental prestige", "influence public mind and morale";  UDN 11-3-2018: all internet platform service providers in Taiwan were requested to hand in all users' personal information.  UDN critiques pointed out  "Big Brother is watching you" almost for sure lead to "Chilling Effect".   ps: Intel. sys. suspectedly controls free expression of some websites not related to China.

★

★ <Apple Daily (蘋果日報)> 11-7-2018 editorial opinion:   by whatever name ( "secret police" or "national security bureau") it is called, what "it" did secretly were always more than what it admitted to the public ( 安全部門無論當時名稱是東廠、警總、或國安部門,「"他們"暗中做的 永遠超過公開承認的」)

★◆

★ <United Daily (聯合報)> 11-3-2018, editorial and Focus edition

　

台灣國安局監控


　

pic. left: KMT legislator : all internet platform service providers in Taiwan were invited by the government and requested to hand in all users' personal information/data. 


　

Taiwan's intelligence "National Security Bureau"
has been doing overall monitors on all Taiwanese.

　

The head of NSB expressed that investigations
and monitoring will be used to those criticizing and blackening Taiwan president.   KMT press conference criticized NSB was infringing
Taiwanese rights and interests. 
Where is freedom of
expression ?

　

　

UDN 11-3-2018 headline news :
Top target media communities that
 Taiwan's FBI has been monitoring are
 (1) Facebook ,  (2) Youtube  (3) LINE

　

　

pic. left: Taiwan president Tsai I. W.
clarified that democratic Taiwan
would no way go back to
Martial Law Period , my Facebook
is a best example, where is filled with encouragements, critiques, and free
discussions concerning public issues.....
　

　

　

　

 pic. left: The sites-group was ranked
No.1 on Google Taiwan
by "Facebook free expression",
11-24-2018
　

◆◆

★  breaking news

damaged web-pages of the sites

dirty attacks !  free speech is worse ever in the past 20 years !   prime suspects are ... ?    11-22-'18
Taiwan justice  (e.g., page1, page2, etc). New form attacks happened at 11-20-2018 ... each char. being typing in took a long time (seconds, even 10+ minutes, or forever) to be shown on the screen while updating my web-pages concerning Taiwan judicial systems and prosecutors...  attacks last ...  
political oppression, persecutions ( Eng,  Chn. )  attacks happened again at 8-10-2018, 8-11-2018 (about 4:20pm), who can't afford freedom of speech??  a mean and evil group !!  hackers attacked more often since this page was created, twice in recent 2 weeks or so (9-28-2018)

◆◆

★ The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices , released at 4-20-2018
     ●  concern about the impact of the concentration of media ownership on freedom of the press, particularly among companies with PRC investment.

      ●  business leaders in Taiwan raised concerns that journalists whose reports were perceived as hurting the interests of businesses could face retaliation in the form of lawsuits and other threats.

      ●  Censorship or Content Restrictions: Local academics and media activists alleged that self-censorship continued since some media presented news stories slanted in favor of the PRC due to political considerations and the influence of local businesses with close ties to the PRC.  PRC authorities reinforced such pressure by using access denial to punish Taiwan media outlets whose coverage they deem to be insufficiently consistent with PRC policies...

◆◆

★  Apple Daily, opinion,  7-12-2018 "The most intolerable page of the relationship of Taiwanese media and politics"  

         Egg on media face !
        The relationship of Taiwanese media and politics has been tangled and complicated for a long time ... the case (ctn boss) had proved the mutualism between KMT and some media ......    some media boss became DPP factional politics media, such a disorder phenomenon ...

◆◆

★ The China Times,  opinion, 6-19-2018

        Taiwanese media should not be "hit-men" for bad political struggles between KMT (pan-blue) and DDP (pan-green) ...
        媒體不應該當藍綠惡鬥的打手   (http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20180619000632-260109)

◆

★ The China Times, scholar opinion, 6-13-2018

        Many Taiwanese government dept. leaders often provided incorrect/wrong news, many legislators often spoke carelessly, they don't need to take any responsibility for that because today's political climate is not good, media lost its power of control and oversight ... / professor Lai (賴祥蔚)  

◆

★ The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices , released at 3-3-2017
      The report also laid out concerns over Taiwanese media self-censorship with regard to China...

◆

★ Paris-based <Reporters Sans Frontieres> (RSF, Reporters without Borders), 4-27-2017

      ●Taiwan's press freedom at 45th place ;  Taiwan’s situation as “media freedom on hold,” stating that “the main threat to media freedom comes from China, which has been exerting growing economic and political pressure on the Taiwanese media.”

      ● Local government officials are also directly interfering in the editorial policies of state-owned media

      ● RSF opened their first Asia bureau headquarters in Taipei in 2017.
    ●  Top rankings :  19 Australia  18 portugal  17 Slovakia  16 Germany  15 Luxemburg  14 Ireland  13 New Zealand  12  Estonia  11 Austria 10 Iceland  9 Belgium 8 Jamaica  7  Swiss  6  Costa Rica  5 Nederland  4  Denmark  3  Finland   2 Sweden  1  Norway

◆

  
◆ 　

                                         breaking news

　  At 2-22-2018, the dark power (who is prime suspect ?? Taiwan ?) blocked my uploading brief file (in Chinese version) about UK's IISS study ― China's advanced military systems are challenging the global predominance of the United States and its allies ... to  http://courageworld.ch/TaiwanROC.htm and http://ProtectHumanRights.net/TaiwanROC.htm ; however, uploading those info. in English version is fine.  There're many similar and evil things happened, but no evidence to prove who the darkness is.

 Nov. 18, 2017  The China Times : Taiwan president gave tacit (secretly) permission to Facebook (Taiwan) to restrict or block certain contents  ... brief http://opinion.chinatimes.com/20171118000516-262114;  Taiwan government did not deny or respond this.   Pls. note  that uploading files got similar problems as above.  

◆

★ Apple Daily, The China Times, United Daily News, The Liberty Times, Hong Kong ifeng (香港鳳凰網 ) , Hong Kong CRNTT  (中評社), Sina China, 7-27-2017, 7-28-2017   brief, details Facebook in Taiwan

Politicians and online personalities said they had been denied access to their Facebook accounts after writing criticisms of  Pan-Green coalition, the ruling political party DPP.   The leader of Chinese Nationalist Party think tank stated that the freedom of speech on Facebook Taiwan has retreated 50 years, and urged FB's Taiwanese users getting together to accuse Facebook, to tell the whole world about this deformed and illegal phenomenon -  free-expression terror on Facebook.   This issue has already been included in Wikipedia references.   Taiwanese government denied having sent political requests to Facebook.   Facebook Hong Kong & Taiwan office officially denied that they took sides or favored one of 2 major political parties or suppressed Taiwanese freedom of expression.

◆

◆

★The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices , released at 4-13-2016

     ◆ The Association of Taiwan Journalists condemned the journalists’ arrests, saying they infringed on freedom of the press, violated the journalists’ human rights, and were meant to deter media coverage of protests. /  three journalists were arrested while covering a student protest against proposed changes to curriculum guidelines for high school textbooks (see section 2.b.). The journalists were arrested for allegedly trespassing when they entered the Ministry of Education without a permit and joined a group of protesters who climbed over a fence and broke into Minister Wu Se-hwa’s office. The journalists, who denied the accusation, were released without charge the next day. afterward, the Ministry of Education dropped its complaint against the journalists.

     ◆  Censorship or Content Restrictions: Local academics and media activists alleged that self-censorship continued as some media chose to present news stories in favor of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) due to political considerations and the influence of local businesses with close ties to the PRC.

     ◆ concern about the impact of the increasing concentration of media ownership on freedom of the press.
 ◆◎

★ Paris-based <Reporters Sans Frontieres> (RSF, Reporters without Borders), 4-21-2016

Taiwan was ranked No. 51 (score 24.37 - worse than 24.83 on 2015's report) according to World Press Freedom Index 2016 released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).   The main threat to media freedom comes from China, which has been exerting growing economic and political pressure on the Taiwanese media. The editorial line of some privately-owned media has changed radically and it is no longer rare to find media outlets taking a line similar to the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda. Journalistic independence is also threatened by Taiwanese officials who interfere directly in the editorial policies of the state-owned media.
Top 5 : 1. Finland  8.59   2. Holland  8.76   3. Norway 8.79   4. Denmark   5. NZ ,  USA is No.41 (Freedom ends where national security begins)  out of 180 countries,   Chn No.176  (Great Firewall and systematic imprisonment ) score 80.96 which is  -7.41 worse than 2015.

●
★<Freedom House>, USA  ( a Washington-based think tank ),  4-27-2016

/ASIA-PACIFIC  Regional Rankings & Scores， Taiwan's Global Rank  is No. 46 (No 44-46 same score),   No.7 in Asia Pacific， press freedom score is 26,  legal environment(0-30)scores 9,  political environment9(0-40),  economic environment 8(0-30)。Top-score countries are Norway(No.1), Belgium,  Finland, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Andorra, Luxembourg, Switzerland , Liechtenstein, Iceland;  besides,  Canada no. 22,  US 30,   Germany 25,  UK 41,  NZ 26, Australia 33,  Japan 45.

Taiwan's freedom (Feb. 7, 2017) aggregate score 91(100: Most Free), same score as No.37~41countries Bahamas, Costa Rica, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, St Vincent & Grenadines, Taiwan is at position 42 in the table. 

●◎

★ The China Times, chief editorial ,  2-4-2017

Taiwan media's  major issues today are no longer media independency, but narrowly partisan politics and conflicts each other, too over populism without guidelines and directions, Ideology being stirred up to oppose to each other.(黨同伐異、民粹氾濫與煽動意識型態對立的課題)

★

★ The United Daily , Chief-editorial ,  2-6-2017

Those Taiwan's media lacking of self-discipline and  Political/media/TV pundits , Panelist lacking of expertise-knowledge actually became the major source of chaos.   In this "post-truth" age,  fake news are everywhere ......Taiwan's democracy and nomocracy (rule by law) are degraded day by day.

★
 ★The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2014, released at June 26, 2015

Speech freedom / protesters occupied the Executive Yuan. Police forcibly evicted them the next day using batons and water cannon. According to media reports, at least 174 persons, including 119 police officers, were injured in the incident.   Local media have reported incidents of police obstruction and violence directed at journalists who were covering protests against administration policies.  Local academics and media activists alleged that self-censorship continued as some media chose to present news stories in favor of the PRC due to political considerations and the influence of local businesses with close ties to the PRC.
 ◎◎

★<Freedom House>, USA  ( a Washington-based think tank ),  4-29-2015
　		 　
Taiwan's press-freedom score from 24 (2014 report) down to 27, ranked no.48 ,  fell 1 place from last year's / Liberty Times , 4-30-2015 
the vigorous and diverse press reports aggressively on government policies and alleged official wrongdoings.  But, political polarization, self-censorship, and indirect communist Chinese influence somewhat limit the diversity of opinions in mainstream media.  Journalists occasionally face pressure to self-censor on topics important to Red Chinese government.  Many Taiwanese media owners have business connection in China, or like to earn ads. revenue from mainland Chinese companies, making them wary of upsetting Beijing.  Besides, hackers attacked those media criticizing Chinese government, although the authority took investigation on that, Taiwan's press freedom score and ranking position fell.  (ps: Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Holland on top)		 ◆Websites commenting Taiwan judiciary and prosecutors (http://intlhumanrights.com/TaiwanJudiciary.htm  http://intlhumanrights.com/ProsecutorsTaiwan.htm ) can't be open in governmental institutions -  National Central Library ( test at 2-19-2016) and Taipei City Daan District Office (test at 3-14-2016)... but non-gov. places may see them.  
ps: test again at 5-22-2017 in SinEi District Office, it is not 'banned' now.   Most likely it became normal since DPP took charge of the government .


★ London-based Amnesty International , 2-25-2015

 Amnesty expressed concerns about Taiwan’s handling of the student-led Sunflower movement protest against a trade deal with China in March last year.

 It said more than 200 protesters were summoned for questioning under the Criminal Code and Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), and that they remained under threat of prosecution.
◎

★ London-based Amnesty International , 2-11-2015

London-based AI expressed Taiwan must cancel the prosecution against Sunflower movement protest students, and urged Taiwan to modify  the Criminal Code and Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) and related laws to meet international standard. / source: 大紀元2015年02月11日訊
 ◎

★Paris-based <Reporters Sans Frontieres> (RSF, Reporters without Borders), Feb. 13, 2015

Taiwan fell 1 place (2015's ranking: No. 51) from the ranking in 2014's report, according to World Press Freedom Index 2015 released yesterday by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
Top 21 : Finland, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, NZ, Austria, Canada, Jamaica, Estonia, Ireland, Germany, Czech, Slovakia, Belgium, Costa Rica, Namibia, Poland, Luxembourg, Swiss, and Iceland.  Besides, Spain No. 33, UK No.34, France No. 38, USA No. 49, HK 70, Italia 73, Rus No. 152, China No.176

◎

★ United Daily, Taiwan, 2-25-2016

according to a latest survey, 78% think media monopoly problem in Taiwan is serious. 

◎

★The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013, released at Feb. 27, 2014

Censorship or Content Restrictions:  Pressure from China and from local businessmen had led to some self-censorship.

 Local academics and media activists alleged that self-censorship occurred due to influence by local businesses and the PRC. They pointed to a study released in April by a National Taiwan University professor, which found two of Taiwan's leading newspapers published more favorable news stories on visiting PRC officials than their competitors. In addition, they alleged that the state-run Central News Agency decided not to publish a news story about a Gallup poll that found Taiwan people were pessimistic about their daily life.  (ps: speech and the press were generally free)
◎

★<Freedom House>, USA  ( a Washington-based think tank ),  May 2, 2014

Taiwan's media freedom declines again (BBC: for consecutive 3 years) -  Taiwan fell 1 places from the 2013's report. Taiwan has been ranked 48th in the world for media freedom and labeled "free" by the US-based NGO Freedom House.
 ◎

★ Washington Post, 3.25.2014

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Monday the U.S. supports Taiwan’s vibrant democracy, and hopes that its discussion over the trade agreement can be conducted “peacefully and civilly.” (Political protests in Taiwan are common, but violent confrontations relatively rare, reflecting the high level of civil discourse resulting from the transition from one-party dictatorship to robust democracy in the mid-1990s.  The United States has welcomed steps taken by China and Taiwan to reduce tensions.)
◎

★ The International Federation of Journalists , 3.26.2014
        Journalists Obstructed as Police Use Force at Taiwan Student Demonstration

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins its affiliate the Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ) in condemning the restraining of media reporting on a student-led demonstration in Taiwan which led to a violent confrontation between police and protestors earlier this week. This week, the ATJ issued a declaration on the infringement of coverage with calls for police education in the wake of the heavy-handed police response.
◎

★Paris-based <Reporters Sans Frontieres> (RSF, Reporters without Borders), Feb. 13, 2014

Taiwan’s ranking for press freedom fell three notches from last year to 50th.  Paris-based <Reporters Sans Frontieres> (RSF), a press freedom watchdog body

Feb. 13, 2014

  according to the World Press Freedom Index 2014 released yesterday by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

The retreat in Taiwan’s global ranking reflected China’s growing economic clout, which has allowed Beijing to extend its influence over the media in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, “which had been largely spared political censorship until recently,”

　

 Finland retained the top position in the overall list, ahead of the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg and Andorra.

　

◎
 ★ BBC, 5.1.2014

After a series of protests against TW government, Taiwan limits Taiwanese' freedom of speech on the net.   Taiwan policemen are trying to search an internet poster to scare many.  (details pls refer to BBC "台灣收緊網路言論自由" full text)
◎◎

★<國家通訊傳播委員會>(Taiwan NCC government, http://www.ncc.gov.tw ),  3.17.2014

According to NCC's latest annual report regarding Taiwan's media communication survey, the most complaints (about 37%") go to "untrue/unbiased content" (2014, 2013, 2012, 2011), among these, Taiwanese most complaints go to TV news report.
 ◎◎

★ <Freedom House>, Washington D.C., USA  , the Freedom of the Press world survey report,   issued on May 1, 2013

With an overall score of 26 on the annual report’s zero to 100 scale, Taiwan dropped one score from 2012 as well as 2011.

Taiwan's ranking (No. 8) in Asia & Pacific slipped one spot from last year (No.7).

　

<Freedom House> 2013 report

May 1,  2013

　

 In the Freedom of the Press world survey Washington-based watchdog organization Freedom House.

 The main reason Taiwan's freedom of press  falling one point from last year's 25 because of a worse legal environment, (Taiwanese government has put off approving a license for the establishment of a new television station whose owner's financial status turned out to be unsustainable, so must give up the plan  ). Political polarization, self-censorship and indirect Chinese influence limit the diversity of opinions represented in Taiwan’s mainstream media, according to a new report from the US-based watchdog Freedom House.  

 

  Freedom House, a Washington-based non-governmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom around the world. Taiwan was judged to have a “free” press with an overall “freedom score” of 26 points, just one point less free than the previous year.

◎
 ★ <Freedom House>, Washington D.C., USA , issued on May 31 (US time), June 1, 2013 (eastern time)

Taiwan media reflect diverse perspectives and report sayings of government's corruption and government policies.  However, Taiwan media show a strong preference/bias on some political party, some candidates.
◎◎

★ <Reporters Sans Frontieres> (RSF, Reporters without Borders), France, Jan 30, 2013

Taiwan ranked 47th in the world in terms of press freedom, Taiwan fell two places from the 2012 in the global rankings. the watchdog was concerned about the protests in Taiwan last year against the Want Want China Times Group’s (旺旺中時集團) bid to buy into another media group. Taiwan remained at the top in the region, ahead of South Korea in 50th place and Japan at 53rd.
◎

★ <Amnesty International>, London, UK, 2013 report
      ( http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/taiwan/report-2013  )

Concentration of ownership of media outlets raised concerns about freedom of expression and editorial independence. In July, the National Communications Commission (NCC) conditionally approved Want Want China Times Group’s acquisition of a major cable television channel and, in November, acquisition of newspaper giant Next Media. In December, the Taipei High Administrative Court ruled that the NCC had the executive power to revoke the Group’s acquisition of another cable television channel because the channel had failed to meet the conditions set by the NCC.

◎◎
★ <The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD ) > & SHU,  Dec. 10, 2013
2013 Survey shows a "F" score (rating 2.7/5.0points) on Taiwanese communication privacy and freedom.

◎

★ <Freedom House> ( a Washington-based think tank & human rights organization ), USA, May 1, 2012

Taiwan was tied with Poland, Slovenia and Trinidad and Tobago for 47th in Freedom House's 2012 Freedom of the Press rankings, Among Asia-Pacific countries, Taiwan ranked seventh. Taiwan received a total score of 25 points, the same as in 2011.

Taiwan scored an 8 for its legal environment (1 point worse than last year's survey), a 9 for its political environment (no change), and an 8 for its economic environment (1 point better than last year).

 Other concerns include the use of criminal defamation laws against a journalist and blogger as well as a proposed merger that could reduce media diversity."   incidents of news content produced by China's state-run media outlets appearing in Taiwanese newspapers "under less than transparent conditions." ......
◎◎

★ <Amnesty International>, London, UK, May 24, 2012

Taiwan's  Restrictions on freedom of assembly remained, with no progress made towards a relaxation of existing, stringent laws. The authorities did little to protect the housing rights of farmers across the island, at times colluding in their eviction.
◎◎

★ <Reporters Sans Frontieres> (RSF, Reporters without Borders), France, Jan 25, 2012

 Taiwan's rank on Freedom of Press ( freedom of Information) : 45th.

ps: Taiwan declined - Taiwan ranked no. 36 in 2008.


 Press freedom Index : Finland No.1, Norway No.1

 New Zealand No.13,  Japan No. 22,  Australia No.30, South Korea No.44,
 Taiwan No.45, USA, No.47, HK No.54  US extra territorial No. 57,  China No.174

　

 Apple Daily News, Jan. 26, 2012
Taiwan's rank in 2011 : No.47

◎◎
 ★ <Taipei Times>, Dec. 11 2012
 The Democratic Progressive Party: The erosion of human rights under KMT's  administration, in particular regarding the judiciary and media, has placed Taiwan’s proud democracy in jeopardy and requires attention from the international community, ... applying a three-part strategy to monopolize local media by first “paralyzing the public television system and controlling the Chinese Television System,” then following up with Want Want China Times Group’s (旺旺中時集團) “vertical integration of a cable television service and horizontal integration of its pending merger of the Next Media Group.”... Implementing the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) was the most glaring example of Ma’s noncompliance with the covenants,...  there were two major crises in Taiwan: first, people’s suffering from the sluggish economy; second, the backsliding of human rights and the re-emergence of authoritarianism.
◎

★ <China Post>,  Dec. 11 2012
 The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman: Taiwan currently faces two major human rights crises: prosecutors that abuse their powers to persecute the people, and private interests that wield dangerous power over the media, Su said, pointing to China as one of the big players in the monopolization of Taiwan's media.
DPP's Policy Research Committee: a recent poll indicates that 62.3 % of Taiwanese are dissatisfied with the government's protection of human rights.

◎

★ <Apple Daily>, Dec. 5, 2012
Taiwan's freedom of speech is in retreat, scholars worry about Taiwan's democracy doesn't work well ...  Acording to "2012 Taiwanese Human Rights index survey" (conducted by 中華人權協會), 17.9% Taiwanese think Taiwan's overall human rights in progress, 36% think it is in retreat, 76% Taiwanese don't satisfy Taiwan's economy human rights.

◎

★ <Taipei Times>, Dec. 8, 2012

Public feels human rights deteriorating

DISSATISFACTION: Official corruption, the government’s inability to fill people’s needs and media independence were top public concerns, according to a survey of public opinion by the government-affiliated Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (conducted by Shih Hsin University),...
Corruption was the target of the greatest public dissatisfaction, scoring 1.9 points. It was followed by the government’s ability to respond to people’s needs, which garnered 2 points, and external interference in judicial rulings, at 2.1 points.

◎

★ <Apple Daily>, Dec. 6, 2012 ,  <Sing Tao Daily> Dec. 5, 2012
Tsinghua University student Chen Wei-ting in the Legislative Yuan was impolite to Taiwan's Education Minister led to a controversy - Education Minister did not listen properly to the demands of the students so he deserve an impolite speech  VS. "the behavior of Chen led us to think of the Cultural Revolution in China, in which the red guards scolded society's elite."
We should focus on protestant students' main demand - the issue that Taiwan's government permitting the Next Media buyout, and Education Minister used the  extraordinarily sensitive phrase "care"( 「關心」or concern), which is overtones word that in the martial law era (戒嚴時期) garrison the headquarters interviews and intimidation of dissidents.  (警備總部約談並恐嚇異議人士時也是使用「關心」這個有弦外之音的語詞。)

★ <Central Radio Station>, Taiwan, Aug. 16, 2012.

ROC (Taiwan government) Foreign Ministry spokesman expressed the behavior of some Hong Kong citizens who carried the national flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan R.O.C.) as well as the flag of People's Republic of China and boarded the Diaoyu Islands (Diaoyutais 釣魚台/釣魚島) belongs to "the freedom of expression".    Japanese government has been insisting that Diaou islands ( Diaoyutais ) belongs to Japan and arrested those HK people .

◎

★  <the Liberty Times>, Taiwan, April 21, 2012

DDP said Taiwan's first human rights report released yesterday is full of empty boasts and obfuscations ... During DDP's administration, Taiwan's press freedom status went from 35th up to 32nd place, but in KMT time, Taiwan's press freedom status dropped from 42nd down to 48th place.

◎
 ★ <the China Times>, Taiwan, March 10, 2012

On Mar. 8, 2012, pig farmers across Taiwan voiced their opposition to the government's possible decision to relax import restrictions on beef containing ractopamine (Paylean drugs) with a protest rally  in front of the Legislative Yuan and the Council of Agriculture (Taiwanese government) , Taiwanese police arrested them for their violation of the Assembly and Parade Law, ...... they scolded this had a contempt for international human rights conventions.

◎
 ★ 2011 Human Rights reports <USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices> ,  issued on April 8, 2011

        Taiwan's  authorities increased their placement of advertisements packaged as news reports in local newspapers and television.
 ◎

★ <Freedom House>, Washington D.C., USA  , the Freedom of the Press world survey report,   issued on May 2, 2011

With an overall score of 25 on the annual report’s zero to 100 scale, Taiwan dropped one spot to 48th from 2010.

Taiwan’s scores have declined three years in a row.

　

<Freedom House> 2011 report

May 2,  2011

　

 In the Freedom of the Press world survey Washington-based watchdog organization Freedom House.

 Taiwan's press freedom in 2010 was ranked 47th among all nations, slipping three spots compared to 2009.

 Taiwan's rank : 2008 - 32nd , 2009 - 43rd , 2010 - 47th , 2011 - 48th

　		  Freedom House, a Washington-based non-governmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom around the world.

◎
 ★ <Freedom House>, Washington D.C., USA, Jan. 21, 2012

     (1) complaints about unfair competition and concerns about Beijing's interference were present throughout the presidential election campaign.
     (2)  some criminal law is kept and can be used for suing reporters and internet blog writers, may against Taiwan's press freedom.
     (3) Taiwan's overall rating remained the same as last year 2011 and the Washington-based group pro-democracy watchdog highlighted Taiwan's presidential elections in its Freedom. (Liberty Times head-page, Taipei Times, 1/21/2012)
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★ <Amnesty International>, London, UK,  annual report The State of the World's Human Rights 2011, May 13, 2011

Taiwan was criticized over issues to do with the death penalty, freedom of expression (The report also criticized Taiwan's government for what it said was its failure to deliver on promises to amend the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) that limits citizens' rights to assembly and free speech.), justice and migrants' rights.

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★ <the Christian Science Monitor >,  USA   -    Jan 3, 2011

For the past two years, Freedom House has downgraded Taiwan's rating in its annual report on global press freedom. Critics say it's common for government propaganda to masquerade as 'news.'

▼ ...many observers say that the glitter of the island republic’s free press has been overrated, especially in a highly commercialized news culture that is both deeply partisan and prey to political favors. For the past two years Freedom House has downgraded Taiwan’s rating in its annual report on global press freedom.

▼The placement of advertising as news is only the “tip of the iceberg,”

▼One example of creeping government influence is the media's minimization of criticism of government policies and exaggeration of its achievements, says Guang, who teaches journalism at National Chung Cheng University.......“Taiwan’s news media are not yet independent,” says Guang. “Can the public really accept this?”
　

  reported by Taiwan's most popular newspaper, Apply Daily, at Jan 5, 2011

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★ < Reporters Without Borders > , Paris France ,    Oct. 21, 2010 

Press Freedom Index  (2010): Taiwan ranks No. 48,  other Asia & Pacific countries like New Zealand (No. 8）, Japan（No. 11）, Hong Kong（No. 34）, South Korea（No. 42）.

Top 5 are Finland, Iceland, Holland, Norway, and Sweden.   USA ranks No. 20, China No. 171.  

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★ <Freedom House> - Washington D.C. , USA  -   2010  

Taiwan's press freedom declined ，... Taiwan ranked 43th last year,  47th in 2010...

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★ <Freedom House> - Washington D.C. , USA  -   Jan. 13, 2011  

 the report rated Taiwan's freedom of the media  lower than the previous year, on the basis of a controversy surrounding the country's Public Television Service (PTS).

The heads of PTS were removed in last September amid concerns about the independence of publicly-funded media.

 Freedom House 2011 report

Jan 13, 2011

 Freedom House, a Washington-based non-governmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom around the world.

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★    <Apple daily news> , Taiwan,  head-page, Jan. 19, 2012

Four days after the election, the reporter of "Taiwan Times," Jiang W.S. (江文兟), was serious hurt by four masked man, resulting in his hands and left foot fracture.  His articles in newspaper favored DDP's candidate (邱議瑩) , instead of KMT's (鍾).

Reporters group and scholars condemned violence, and hope the police to clarify the case as soon as possible, otherwise will harm the freedom of the press, and will result in a retrogression of democracy.
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★ <Reporters Without Borders > Paris, France,  Oct. 1, 2010

Reporters Without Borders believes that a democratic government should take pride in defending the state-owned media’s independence. Protecting their independence is essential in order to guarantee a really democratic political system, one that allows all political parties and all sectors of society to make their voices heard.

...We urge ... to ensure that PTS's (Taiwan's Public Television Service) editorial independence ...

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★    <Taipei Times> , Taiwan,      May 1, 2010  

Taiwan's press freedom declines

SELF-CENSORSHIP Freedom House cited softening criticism of Ma and China after the China Times Group was bought by a businessman with interests in China

Press freedoms in Taiwan have declined for a second straight year, according to a new report released by a US-based non-profit watchdog.

..., a revival of ‘embedded marketing’ amidst economic difficulties resulting from the global financial crisis, actions by media owners and government influence over the editorial content of publicly owned outlets posed challenges for media independence during the year.”

... a controversy concerning board members at the Public Television Service (PTS) and personnel changes the government made at state-owned media that “have raised concerns that their aim is to influence the editorial content of the nonpartisan outlets.”

... 2009 that criticism of the government in the Central News Agency’s [CNA] coverage appeared to have been markedly toned down since the end of 2008, ...  deputy president and CNA staff reported receiving editorial ­directives to alter certain content,” the report said.

... Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明),... purchased the China Times Group...  softening criticism of the Ma administration, Beijing or improvements in cross-strait ties. This also raised concerns over the potential direct or indirect influence of the Chinese government on free expression in Taiwan,”...

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 ★    <Apple daily news> , Taiwan,   public editorial, Oct. 12, 2011,  "Protect our speech freedom!" by professor Cheng, NTU.

Some financial groups with huge money & political power are going to involve in mass media circle ...
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★ <Freedom House/IFEX> - Washington -   September 27, 2010  

Freedom House expresses concern over public television integrity

... "We encourage Taiwan's policy makers to ensure that the PTS does not become a casualty of political conflict."

ps : Freedom House pointed out that Taiwan denied a visa to  Kadeer Rabiye Qadir, Uighur dissidents in Sept. 2009.

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 ★ <Freedom House> - Washington  USA,    Sept. 27, 2010       http://www.freedomhouse.org 

Freedom House Expresses Concern over Public Television Integrity in Taiwan

Freedom House urges Taiwan to safeguard the integrity of the country's public broadcaster following the removal of its leadership.
　
On September 19, Taiwan’s Public Television Service Foundation, the entity that oversees the Public Television Service (PTS), took the unusual step of removing the station’s leadership, Sylvia Feng (President and CEO) and Chung Yu-yuan (Executive Vice President), just three months before their three-year terms were set to expire. The Public Broadcasting Foundation claimed that the firings were made on the basis of poor performance, an assertion that Feng and Chung reject and may challenge in court ...

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★ <Reporters Without Borders > Paris, France,  2010    http://www.rsf.org    

   Taiwan's press freedom moved backward badly

   Press Freedom Index :  Taiwan ranks No. 59 in 2009 ( Japan 17th ), but ranked 36th in 2008.   Taiwan dropped 23 notches (now is behind the 57th position ―  Haiti).

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★  <Apple daily News>, Taiwan    Oct. 8, 2010          http://www.appledaily.com

PTS( (Taiwan's Public Television Service) becomes the shame of Taiwan. (by Mr. Chen Bing-hong)

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★ <Liberty times>, Taiwan  


    ◎   April 30, 2010  

 Concerns over the potential direct or indirect influence of the Chinese government on free expression in Taiwan.

<Freedom House> also commented ERA News, Central News Agency (CNA) and Public Television Service (PTS) , in addition to the China times. (Also of note was the influence of owners over the editorial content of media they acquire. After Tsai Eng-Meng, a businessman with significant commercial interests in the PRC purchased the China Times Group in November 2008, a series of incidents in 2009—including Tsai’s own comments to the media—pointed to a subsequent change in editorial policy in the direction of softening criticism of the Ma administration, Beijing, or improvements in cross-strait ties. This also raised concerns over the potential direct or indirect influence of the Chinese government on free expression in Taiwan. ) 〔編譯張沛元、記者蘇永耀、趙靜瑜／綜合報導〕

   ◎   Sept. 27, 2010  

Main reason of Taiwan's press freedom going backwards is government placement marketing

KMT( Taiwan's Chinese Nationalist Party ) used one-party dominance and Legislative Yuan's (the national legislature) modification of the laws (The term of previous presidencies have not expired, so KMT can't force them to step down, hence they modified the law to change the number of board member from 11 to 21 ... ) to legally dominate the board member.

Taiwan's media accept government placement marketing for :
(1) Strong competition  ―   too many media in a small market.   Survival of the fittest ??
(2) A long term government-media culture in Taiwan.

Most Taiwanese trust news reports, so government uses this trust for publicity/propaganda/comm. 
Taiwan government should let Taiwanese people tell between news and placement marketing.   Officials can only purchase ads, not news reports.   Taiwan needs an independent,  diversified cultured, and high-quality environment.
Besides, media reporters don't have enough organized power to contend pressures from outside world or high ranking people.    [by 管中祥]

   ◎   July, 2010

Taiwan's parliament must take the responsibility to maintain Taiwan's image and quality of democracy and freedom  ―   they should full-scaled examine budget for government placement marketing .

　

Government takes 2 ways for placement marketing:

(1)  Threaten or tempt media by  payments for placement (like "embedded advertising").

(2)  even worse way is to place 'embedded ads'  in news reports, ordinary readers fail to tell truly news and partly "brainwashing" messages.

China's ads too . abstracts from reports by reporter Lin Jiaqi, Yi-Ching Chen / Taipei
　

   ◎   2010-7-8   

 

Latest report by < Freedom House > of USA (Washington D.C.) points out the Taiwan government placement ( 'embedded' ads ) in the media , and political forces involved in Central News Agency [CNA] and other issues.

　

A professor (Chung Cheng U.) commented a democratic country should not politically interfere with press freedom, ......，the function of CNA is to strengthen Taiwan's international publicity, instead of  domestic propaganda, none to mention using national resource to enhance political competitiveness.

The distinction between political forces and comm. media should not be confused.

Another professor (Normal U.) stated even state-level agency should not affect or interfere with the operation of the editorial department.   A scholar (Soochow U) criticized that the state agency should be "no color", its function is to provide world media with Taiwan's info. , instead of blocking messages or politically interfering with news reports.

Former leader of GIO stressed that media has the objectivity & neutrality, and should not become government's beautician, the CNA should safeguards national interests, and upholds the spirits & basic principles of the media.   〔extracts reports by Reporter Lin Jiaqi, Yi-Ching Chen / Taipei〕
　

   ◎  Mar. 18, 2010

Jane Yu Yan Hao  discovered municipal used  taxpayer money to  "pre-audit" news reports.
　

   ◎ 2010-7-8  Liberty times  

The national media being not neutral aroused controversies and disputes  ...   it (or the public media) must get rid of  ( to the max ) intervention from the government or the ruling party; Taiwan's moving to opposite direction has been caused international concerns.

 For financial independence, French government is hardly influential in AFP (Agence France-Presse).  BBC of UK and ＮＨＫ of Japan are about the same.
 French "Supreme Audiovisual Council" (CSA, similar to Taiwan's NCC)  maintains the minimum democratic fairness.     蘇永耀／專訪    http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2010/new/jul/7/today-p4.htm

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★    <Taiwan News>  PRC invades Taiwan with 'embedded' ads      May 18, 2010   http://www.etaiwannews.com

The quality and sustainability of Taiwan's hard-won democracy is now being increasingly threatened by invasive "embedded advertising" and "censorship without borders" from the authoritarian People's Republic of China.

... One of the reasons cited by Freedom House for the erosion has been the use by the Ma administration of huge amounts of taxpayer funds to engage in "embedded advertising" or promotion or propaganda of government policies packaged as "news" stories or features.

... As a result of embedded marketing and the frequent use of "news" stories to engage in marketing by public as well as private sector interests, the credibility of the Taiwan news media has fallen to its lowest level since ...  July 1987.

.... However, an even greater threat to news freedom, freedom of expression and the credibility of our news media is ... PRC, ... is now actively exploiting the opportunity posed by "cross-strait reconciliation" to buy influence in print and broadcast media in Taiwan.

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★ <Taiwan News >   Taiwan: How ECFA threatens Taiwan news freedom,   30 July 2010

Taiwan will face greater challenges in defending existing hard-won levels of news freedom in the wake of the signing of the controversial “Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement” with the authoritarian ... China. ...  a new report ...  on the impact of ECFA on Taiwan warned that Taiwan’s government and citizens cannot ignore the “contradictions” between the broadcasting and news media systems of Taiwan and the PRC ...... http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1333042&lang=eng_news&cate_img=46.jpg&cate_rss=news_Editorial

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★ <Reporters Without Borders>, Paris, France   2008 Dec 17   http://www.rsf.org

Public media independence threatened, despite government denials    
Reporters Without Borders urges President Ma Ying-jeou to keep his promises to us to respect public media independence.

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★ <Reporters Without Borders>, Paris, France   Nov. 8, 2008  

More than 10 journalists injured during opposition protests against Chinese visit
　

Reporters Without Borders deplores the violence against journalists in Taipei in the course of protests against a visit by a Chinese government representative during the past few days.

At least 10 journalists were injured during protests on 6 November by supporters of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) against the meeting in Taipei between President Ma Ying-jeou and Chen Yunlin,

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★ <Amnesty International>    2008        http://www.amnesty.org

Freedom of Expression problem : The Assembly and Parade Law

the Assembly and Parade Law requires police permission to hold a public demonstration and is used to suppress protests

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★ <Freedom House> - Washington -   Nov. 20, 2008       http://www.freedomhouse.org 

Freedom House Calls for Inquiry into Taiwan Clashes

Freedom House urges Taiwan's government to create an independent commission to thoroughly investigate clashes between police and activists protesting Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin's historic visit and recommend needed reforms. ... The clashes reveal a need for police to undergo crowd control training that adheres to the standards used in other democracies. Likewise, demonstrators and political advocacy groups must recommit themselves to orderly protests that avoid violence under any circumstances.

Free Speech to be continued ...

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  freedom of speech & expression in Taiwan
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Some comments above are direct translation of extracts/abstract from reports of  Taiwan's major news, for precise meaning pls refer to Chinese language version

Extract of  GIO's  reply letter to Reporters Without Borders“The Government Information Office states that the spirit of the Public Television Act is to protect the neutrality and objectivity of the media, and that the purpose of its provisions is to reduce government intervention to the minimum by respecting the independence of its board. Respecting the principles of the Public Television Act, the GIO never strayed from its position of respect for its spirit of independence and autonomy. It never intervened in matters of personnel, programme choice or programme content. Ms. Feng’s statements are at variance with reality.”

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