Why Premier Su Dare Not File a Lawsuit？
China Times Commentary, October 1, 2022
The license permit application case of Mirror TV is just like a demon-detector. It not only reflected that the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen deliberately planned to establish a “government-media twinning” governance model; but also unraveled the symbiotic chain of government and media wing which has become a wagging dog to the government. If the government tries to abruptly sever this symbiotic tie, then the media might backfire with dirt-dishing. Otherwise, facing so severe accusations from outside, how can the Tsai administration drain the cup of humiliation?
The whistle blowers continuously released through legislators the tape recording which revealed how Premier Su Tseng-chang under the instruction and authorization of President Tsai, exerted pressure for Mirror TV against Chairman Chen Yao-hsiang of National Communications Commission (NCC) to obtain the license permit. When this information was exposed, former chairman Chen Chien-ping of Mirror TV also confirmed its content publicly.
Facing accusations, the government denied stoutly whereas Premier Su in response to question in the Legislature Yuan expressed that “what the third person from outside wanted to say was not within the control of the president or premier, and there is no need to verify”. This comment hit the mark the guilty conscience of the government.
Under normal procedures, the Office of the President and Executive Yuan would litigate against incidents of serious slander. But on the contrary, the government turned out to speak for the slanderer. Doesn't this lend testimony that what Pei Wei, publisher of Mirror Media, said is true? This case ran the same groove as it did before when the government decided to revoke the license renewal by CtiTV News, executed by Chen under the pressure of the president and the premier. This is exactly the standard of operation used by Tsai administration to gag the media.
If President Tsai accepts the lobby of some specific medium, then she is extending her hands to exert pressure against the premier, who is the head of the executive branch, disrupting the independence, professionalism of the independent institute and sabotaging the government institution. Is the content of the exposed report coverage not serious?
The judiciary like Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion. However, today, the government facing accusation of destroying the constitution and sabotaging the governance simply pretended to be deaf; it was the crucial moment for the government to prove its innocence through judicial means but instead it just dodged the issue by pretending cordiality. How can our people believe that there are no misdeeds behind the scene crisscrossing the higher and the lower levels of the government.
Recently, senior anchorwoman Chou Yu-kou smeared a religious groups red (pro-China) and even smeared an innocent lady as the protagonist of a scandal. Although the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was all the more embarrassed by these, it still kept intimate relations with Chou. In the same token, facing this Mirror TV case, both President Tsai and Premier Su should take immediate actions of filing lawsuits but didn’t, their consideration behind the scene was not that their worries over a rift with the media might lead to a backlash from the media?
From: https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20221001002519-262101