Taiwanese Government Lifts Ban on Oppositional Press
- Artist/Author/Producer: Journalists
- Confronting Bodies: Taiwanese Government
- Dates of action: Jan. 1, 1994
- Location: Taiwan
- Description of the Art Work
- Any political journalist writing for any Taiwanese publication.
- Description of incident
- Historically it has been illegal in Taiwan for any press to print
articles or editorials questioning the policies or actions of the
Taiwanese government, or which is representative of oppositional party,
all of which were also considered illegal.
However, "as Taiwan has prospered in recent years its people have
demanded a greater voice in government."
"On January 1, the government opened the door to new publishing
licenses and subsequently approved fifty-seven new newspapers. As of
late June, twenty-three we already on the stands. It also permitted
papers to exceed their previous twelve page limit, and immediately they
doubled in size."
"Reporters on the country's mainstream dailies who wrote secretly for
the opposition press can now criticize the government in the bylined
stories in their own papers, and can go directly to official sources, who
feel more comfortable about granting interviews. Coverage of
antigovernment demonstrations has become routine, and readers accustomed
to a virtual blackout on news from mainland China now receive detailed
reports on its affairs. More space has also meant the introduction of
letters-to-the-editor sections and more in-depth pieces.
- Results of incident
- Two taboos remain: "advocating independence (the government considers
Taiwan a province of mainland China, and the Kuomintang hopes to return
there victoriously some day) and advocating communism. Reporters can
quote someone advocating the right to express an opinion on independence,
but that's as far as they can go. A law forbidding publication of
anything that 'commits or instigates others to commit sedition or
treason' remains in full force, and the government used it to temporarily
suspend the licenses of eight magazines between January and June. One
opposition publisher has had licenses suspended thirty times."
Source: Columbia Journalism Review