雖然官員承諾保證媒體自由，公共傳媒獨立性仍受到威脅
無國界記者 2008.12.17
無國界記者呼籲臺灣總統馬英九遵守諾言，尊重公共媒體的獨立性。在給無國界記者秘書長的一封信中，馬英九稱：「我們認為，指責我們政府干涉臺灣媒體，是來自一些錯誤的資訊。」但是，無國界記者得到的報告，卻顯示執政黨國民黨某些決定妨礙了公共媒體的獨立性。
無國界記者表示，「臺灣應該是亞洲新聞自由的榜樣，公共媒體的獨立是新聞自由和多元化的重要指標。我們願意相信馬英九總統的的保證，可是，諾言要轉化成實際行動。我們知道政治勢力對公共媒體施加壓力的做法屢見不鮮，前任政府就做過類似的事情。在政客們爭論之餘，給媒體創造有利的法律、政治環境是非常重要的。我們要求總統先生對政府干預媒體的行為下令調查，並切實建立保證媒體獨立性的系統。」
馬英九在給無國界記者新秘書長Jean-François Julliard的回信中說：「政府絕不控制、干涉媒體活動。中華民國政府明白媒體自由對民主制度的重要性。臺灣執政黨及反對黨堅決支持賦予人民自由的權利」。
Jean-François Julliard在十月底要求對當時國家媒體，尤其是中央廣播電臺(RTI)、中央社(CNA)承受政治壓力一事作出解釋，Jean-François Julliard寫道，「根據無國界記者得到的證據，某些官員經常打電話給記者，要求改寫報導。目前，這些官員試圖指定親政府人士進入媒體的管理層，以達到全面控制媒體的目的。」
2008年12月10日，公共電視的董事長及其它在公共電視服務的一級主管發佈了一條公告，揭發執政的國民黨試圖控制電視台的行為。他們要求保證公共電視的言論自由。公視集團包括公共電視、客家電視、原住民電視、中華電視公司。
在議會凍結公共電視一半的預算後，國民黨似乎加緊對公共電視臺的控制。同時，議會的兩個委員會決定，客家電視、臺灣宏觀電視、原住民電視的節目都要經過有關政府部門的審查。國民黨這些議員還要求在新聞局審核公共電視臺節目內容通過後，公共電視臺才可以獲得政府撥款。
國民黨有影響的議員也要求重新審核公視法，以求國民黨能控制董事會。據幾個消息來源透露，林益世議員可能宣稱要取消談話節目《公共電視臺-有話好說》，因為這個節目批評政府過於嚴苛。
10月，國民黨占多數席位的議會決定任命公共電視臺董事會六名新成員。這六名成員在執政黨的主導下產生。
聲明稿原文（簡體中文）
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Public media independence threatened, despite government denials
17 December 2008
Reporters Without Borders urges President Ma Ying-jeou to keep his promises to us to respect public media independence. He wrote in a letter to our secretary-general: "We believe that accusations of this administration’s interference in Taiwan’s media are based on some wrong information or misunderstandings." But the organisation has had disturbing reports of ruling Kuomintang party decisions undermining the independence of the public media.
"Taiwan should be a press freedom model in Asia and the independence of the public media is one of the key components of a free and diverse press system," Reporters Without Borders said. "We want to believe in President Ma’s promises but they must be translated into action."
The organisation added: "We are aware that political pressure on the public media is not new and existed under the previous government but it is vital that, regardless of political party debate, the media should have a favourable legislative and political environment. We urge the president to order a probe into the various accusations of meddling and to set up mechanisms that guarantee media independence."
In reply to a letter from Jean-François Julliard, the new Reporters Without Borders secretary-general, President Ma wrote that his government "will never attempt to control or interfere in the activities of the media." He added: "The ROC [Taiwanese] government is fully aware of the indispensable role that freedom of the press has played in the consolidation of our democracy (...) Both Taiwan’s governing party and the opposition cherish the freedom our people enjoy."
In his letter, at the end of October, Julliard had requested an explanation for recent cases of political pressure on the state media, above all on Radio Taiwan International (RTI) and the Central News Agency (CNA). Julliard wrote: "Reporters Without Borders has been told that some officials used to be in the habit of calling journalists to ask them to rewrite stories. Nowadays, officials try to exert a more general control by appointing leading government supporters to run them."
The chairman and some ten other senior members of the Public Television Service Foundation (PTSF) - which oversees the Public Television Service (PTS), Hakka Television, Indigenous Television and China Television Service - issued a statement on 10 December condemning the ruling Kuomintang’s attempts to control these media and calling for their independence to be guaranteed.
The Kuomintang’s campaign to reaffirm its influence over the public TV stations seems to have strengthened since parliament’s decision to freeze half of the PTSF’s budget. At the same time, two parliamentary committees decided that the programming of Hakka Television, Taiwan Macroview Television and Indigenous Television should be subject to review by the entities concerned by their content. The Kuomintang legislators within this committee also called for the TPBS (Taiwan Broadcasting System or Public Television Service) budget to be conditioned on agreement with the Government Information Office (GIO) about content.
Influential Kuomintang lawmakers also proposed amending the public television law without a view to having a supervisory council controlled by the ruling party. According to several sources, legislator Lin Yi-shih said he would like to get rid of the outspoken "PTS News Talk" show.
Parliament, in which the Kuomintang has a majority, decided in October to appoint six new members to the PTS’s supervisory board.
After Ma’s election, RTI’s chairman resigned in protest against GIO interference. CNA deputy editor-in-chief Chuang Feng-chia also resigned after condemning internal censorship on various subjects, including the president of China. He told Reporters Without Borders that the news agency "belongs to the country and not the Kuomintang." This was a few days after President Ma’s campaign director was appointed as the CNA’s deputy chairman.
In a letter to Julliard, the head of the GIO’s International Information Department, Manfred Peng, denied any interference and accused the RTI and CNA officials of manipulating their reasons for resigning. He insisted that the GIO just conveyed listener comments to RTI’s management without issuing any directives about content.
Chen Hsiao-yi of the Association of Taiwan Journalists told Reporters Without Borders that "interference has always existed and the parties always tend to put their friends in positions at the head of the state media."
RTI and CNA were in the past all directly controlled by the Kuomintang but, under President Lee Teng-hui (1988-2000), the state media were granted editorial independence and their funding was guaranteed as part of the GIO’s budget. Article 11 of the public television law says that public television "belongs to all citizens and its operations must be independent and autonomous, and free of any interference."
聲明稿原文（英文）
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