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CCP news articles
seep into Taiwanese paper
By J. Michael Cole and Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff Reporters
All seven stories in a China Reports insert accompanying the local
English-language China Post newspaper yesterday were stories originally
published in Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-run publications, but nowhere were
the sources mentioned, an omission that could violate domestic laws on product
placement.
The eight-page insert, dated April 8, and which purports to be the Volume 2, No.
12 issue of the Reports, contains seven human interest stories, all of which
were taken from the People’s Daily, Xinhua news agency and the China Daily in
recent months. All three are owned by the CCP and well known for their pro-CCP
editorial stance.
Readers informed the Taipei Times that the insert has appeared sporadically in
recent months, including the past three Fridays.
All seven articles were published without a byline, date of original publication
or the name of the original publication, and nowhere is the insert identified as
originating from an outside source, which could lead readers to believe that the
material comes from the China Post staff.
When contacted by the Taipei Times, the editorial department at the Post said
they were in no position to comment on the matter since the entire insert was
produced and sent to them from Hong Kong.
Asked if any China Post staff had control over content in the insert, the person
contacted said: “I don’t think so.”
Other China Post staff members that were contacted seemed unaware of the insert.
Facing a storm of protest about the government’s placement of material in media
late last year, the Executive Yuan on Dec. 30 proposed a series of non-binding
measures to address the problem.
However, during a Cabinet meeting, Government Information Office (GIO) Minister
Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said the GIO was not a supervisory organ for print media
because the Publishing Act (出版法) was annulled in 1999.
About two weeks later, the legislature passed a binding resolution requiring the
Executive Yuan to pursue legal amendments to limit the government’s use of
embedded marketing and that all government policy campaigns should be clearly
marked as advertisements.
An amendment to the Budget Act (預算法) was also passed, which banned embedded
marketing by government agencies at all levels, as well as state-funded or
state-run enterprises. However, at no time was embedded marketing by foreign
governments discussed.
Government agencies are allowed to utilize paid advertising to promote policies
either by publishing newspaper ads, placing supplemental sections in newspapers
or commissioning electronic media to produce programs. However, they are
required to have the agency’s name shown in the proper context and the material
must be clearly identified as product placement.
Asked for comment yesterday, Department of Planning Director Hsu Hsiao-li (徐孝利),
who oversees the GIO’s regulatory agency in charge of cross-strait affairs, said
his office would ask for explanations from the China Post regarding the China
Report inserts.
If necessary, the department would invite experts to a meeting to determine the
content’s conformity with the Guidelines for Permitting Mainland Publications,
Movies, Video, Radio and Television Programs to Enter, or be Issued, Sold,
Produced, Broadcast, Exhibited, and Copied in the Taiwan Region
(大陸地區出版品電影片錄影節目廣播電視節目進入台灣地區或在台灣地區發行銷售製作播映展覽觀摩許可辦法), Hsu said.
One concern of the GIO, which did not know about the insert before being
approached by the Taipei Times, was whether the insert was a form of entry for
Chinese print media into Taiwan, disguised in a manner that allowed it to avoid
being reviewed by the Taiwanese government, Hsu said.
The guidelines stipulate that Chinese productions, including newspapers,
newswire stories, magazines, books and audio books, are not allowed to enter
Taiwan without government permission.
The Chinese bi-weekly magazine Duzhe is the only Chinese-produced print media
allowed for sale in the Taiwanese market. Its first issue, published in
traditional Chinese characters, appeared in January.
Hsu said another concern about the China Reports insert was the possibility that
it served as an -advertorial promoting China, adding that to a certain extent,
the stories in the China Reports insert relating to business and cultural
activities in China lay in a gray area between news and product placement.
Although exchanges of stories between media are within the scope of freedom of
speech, there nevertheless is a need for government to ensure the material is
appropriate, Hsu said
This development comes amid a global drive by China to increase its media
presence.
Late last year, a print and Web-based advertorial section called China Watch,
containing articles from the China Daily, was added to the Washington Post.
However, the insert identifies the source of the material as coming from the
China Daily, has a byline and the masthead states that this is a paid supplement
to the Washington Post.
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