President Chen Shui-bian on March 9 met with a delegation of recipients of the 2007 Asia Pacific Journalism Fellowships Program and expressed a warm welcome and gratitude to the visitors on behalf of the 23 million residents of Taiwan and the ROC (Taiwan) government. The president also exchanged opinions with the visitors on the state of development of Taiwan's media.
President Chen noted that the Asia Pacific Journalism Fellowships Program has been held every two years since 1998 by the East-West Center in Hawaii. Starting in 2007, the program will be held annually. He said he believes that the fellowships program not only assists in honing expertise in journalism in the Asia-Pacific, but also enables the media to have a deeper understanding of the democracy that has taken hold on Taiwan.
President Chen furthermore said that if journalists truly understood Taiwan, the recent situation of the inappropriate media report regarding Vice President Annette Lu's decision to seek the DPP's nomination to run as president would not have happened. The president said he felt that even if the reporter had a different viewpoint about Vice President Lu, the reporter should not have used impolite language. He said that such cheap shots only come from countries that are not democratic and do not enjoy freedom. The president added that he hopes the international media will be responsible and cautious in the reporting, avoiding the use of phrases or words from third sources that could be easily misinterpreted. In the same light, the Taiwan media should not blindly quote remarks made by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in criticizing United States President George W. Bush and use the slanderous remarks as the headline in their reports, he said.
President Chen expressed his pride in Taiwan's transformation from authoritarianism to a democratic society, noting that Taiwan now has an excellent record in political rights, civil liberties, freedom of expression, freedom of religious belief and press freedom. He noted that America's Freedom House, last year in its report on freedom in countries throughout the world, specially indicated that Taiwan ranked at the highest level along with the United States and Japan in the areas of political rights and civil liberties. In addition, Taiwan was given a perfect score in the areas of freedom of expression and religious belief.
The president also noted that the organization Reporters Without Borders, which is headquartered in Paris, ranked Taiwan 43rd in the world in press freedom last year, compared with 51st place the previous year. Taiwan's latest ranking surpasses that of the United States and Japan. He said this proves Taiwan's achievements in defending freedom of the press and expression. President Chen noted, however, that according to a recent public opinion poll, only 1% of the people here believe that reporting carried out by the Taiwan media is credible. He said he hopes that while the government does its utmost to protect freedom of the press, the media also shoulders its responsibility in raising the quality of its reports.
William J. Yih, Deputy Director-General of the Executive Yuan's Government Information Office, and Chen Hsiao-yi, the head of the Association of Taiwan Journalists, accompanied the group of visitors to the Presidential Building to meet President Chen. Also in attendance was Deputy Secretary-General of the Presidential Office, Chen Chi-mai.