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KMT official skips court appearance in
talk show lawsuit
By Vincent Y. Chao / Staff reporter
Supporters shout slogans in support of TV
pundits Michael You, Shieh Jhy-wey, Julian Kuo and Chen Li-hung, front row left
to right, yesterday outside the Taipei District Court, where they faced a
defamation suit brought by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Secretary-General
King Pu-tsung.
Photo: CNA
Talk show hosts and their lawyers yesterday crowded a Taipei courtroom, where
they denied breaking any laws when they accused a senior Chinese Nationalist
Party (KMT) politician of releasing fake polls.
However, the man who had levied the allegations was strangely absent. KMT
Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) failed to show up at the initial hearing,
despite being expected. Instead, he dispatched his lawyer.
Lawyer Lai Su-ju (賴素如), who is also a KMT Taipei City councilor, is handling
King’s case. She said King respected freedom of speech laws, but contended that
the four accused talk show commentators failed to back up their claims with any
evidence.
“King doesn’t want to see talk show hosts [ruin] the reputation of others under
the guise of freedom of speech laws,” Lai said. “[King] just wants to protect
his name.”
The issue arose in October when political talk show host Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) and
three guests on the show Boss Talk (頭家來開講) accused King of falsifying two polls
in Taipei and Taipei County as part of November’s special municipality
elections.
The week prior to the show, King had, without releasing any further details on
the polls, said that the ruling party was leading both races by more than 6
percent, bucking a trend shown by other surveys at the time.
During the Formosa TV show, commentators cited comments by People First Party (PFP)
Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) in suggesting that those numbers were likely
falsified to give the two candidates an advantage.
“The KMT is extremely proficient at making these ‘purpose-driven,’ polls, which
are not really polls,” said Michael You (游盈隆), a professor at Soochow
University.
Yesterday, Shieh, You and their lawyers said that those comments fell in the
bounds of speech, which is protected under law.
A small group of supporters, including a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
Taipei City councilor, held up placards saying that the case underscored growing
political oppression in the media. Media freedoms need to be protected, they
said.
“King launched this lawsuit against us when all we were doing was acting as a
voice for the people,” Shieh said. “A politician of King’s stature ... should
not be trying to stifle the voices of commentators and academics.”
Yesterday was the first time the defamation case was heard by the Taipei
District Court. King is looking for damages of NT$2 million (US$69,000) from the
four commentators, his lawyer said.
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