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Court rules against
King Pu-tsung in talk show lawsuit
By Liu Chih-yuan / Staf Reporter
The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled against former Chinese Nationalist
Party (KMT) secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) in a defamation lawsuit he
filed against the host of talk show Boss Talk (頭家來開講), Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉), and
three of the show’s guests.
The issue arose last October when Shieh and the guests accused King of
falsifying two polls in Taipei City and then-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.
After the show was aired, King said the comments by Shieh and his guests were
groundless. He sued all four for a total of NT$2 million (US$68,800) as well as
demanding a public apology.
The court yesterday ruled that Shieh and the others were citing comments by
People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) — whom during an inteview on Era
Television on Oct. 19 last year alleged that “King’s polls are often fake” —
suggesting that those numbers were likely falsified to give the KMT mayoral
candidates an advantage.
The defendants’ discussion on the show was appropriate criticism concerning a
public issue and did not infringe King’s rights, the court said.
Commenting on the ruling, King’s lawyer, Lai Su-ju (賴素如), who also is a Taipei
City councilor, said they would not rule out filing an appeal after going over
the court’s verdict, which she said she has yet to receive.
King’s lawsuit against Soong, also demanding a compensation of NT$2 million, is
still pending.
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