According to the unconstitutional NCC (National Communications Commission / 國家通訊傳播委員會), Talking Show (大話新聞) and Boss Talk (頭家來開講) are "biased" (偏頗) -- towards truth and democracy, perhaps? The hosts of these shows should embrace this attempted "epithet." I know I do!
Did anybody else also notice how the media was trying to deceive readers and viewers with their "speculation" that former president Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚) would not return from the US to face questioning by prosecutors?
Well, they're back.
Here's some truth-revealing video from Monday night's Talking Show (大話新聞):
5:07 YouTube video: "Return of the son of Chen Shui-bian" (Click "More info" on the YouTube page for an English-language summary of the video)
Apologies from the media and people like Chiu won't be enough. They did that shit on purpose.
Don't fall for these kinds of tricks, and hope that you never have to face that kind of "justice."
UPDATE: The University of Virginia has admitted their "error" and apologized, though the reasoning is still suspicious. The person who gave the media the incorrect information (Jeffery G. Hanna, deduced from the Chinese transliterations of 漢納 and 韓納, Hanna's media relations position, and these two photos) left his job last Friday, and the apology was made by Assistant Vice President for Public Affairs Carol S. Wood (a name that was difficult to find starting from the phonetic back-translation from the Chinese 卡蘿). Most of the articles behind the links in this update are in Chinese. The one linked under "apologized" says Chen Chih-chung told reporters that the school "hinted" to him that they had received some kind of "pressure" and told him that he "shouldn't apply for admission this year." [/UPDATE] News "anchors": Taiwan, 台灣, deep thoughts, 深思, Chen Chih-chung, 陳致中, Huang Jui-ching, 黃睿靚, Talking Show, 大話新聞, media, 媒體, Chiu Yi, 邱毅, YouTube
Last Thursday, July 24, 2008, Taiwanese people had been "picking on" Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) (Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT]) -- about one particular thing -- for three whole days! What was this about? Ma said that the expressions on the faces of Taiwanese people had changed since before his inauguration.
I will explain this "change" shortly, but first some context.
During former president Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) term, the KMT constantly complained that prices were too high, that the government wasn't doing enough to control prices, that the average citizen could "barely survive" (快活不下去！), and so much more.
During Ma's presidential campaign, he told voters that "things would get better right away" (馬上就會好！). He told them that the stock market would climb to 10,000 or even 20,000 points. He told voters, "We are ready" (我們準備好了！).
At the time Ma was promising voters the world, they looked so happy, he said. But now, in the wake of sharply rising prices of things like food, utilities, and many other necessities, with a stock market decline of over 2,000 points (so far), and with a minor typhoon (Kalmaegi) which wreaked major flood damage (probably because his party blocked the DPP's water management budget for political reasons), Ma said with a heavy sigh that the Taiwanese look so "cynical" now. Does that sound like a president who "feels the people's pain" (苦民所苦)?
Show me (where ya gonna get) the money! Ma made the voters believe that 3,000 Chinese tourists a day would "save" Taiwan's economy. That story changed pretty quickly, with the "promise" changing to an upper limit of 3,000 a day. But the tourists are barely trickling in. There were around 2,000 the first weekend (not 2,000 per day), and there are already fewer than 1,000 per weekend. That shouldn't be a surprise, as China subsequently limited the number tourists to 1,000 per day.
Remember what he told the voters about how long they would have to wait: "As soon as I'm president, things will be better."
The "bad" old days from which we're rapidly "escaping" By the way, the economic growth rate for the first quarter of 2008 under Chen Shui-bian's administration was a higher-than-expected 6.06%, but Ma's government now says that it will be difficult for his government to reach even 4.8% by the end of this year.
Did anything need saving, or do we now need to be saved from Ma Ying-jeou?
Just how badly has Ma screwed things up? Well, according to Global Views Magazine (遠見雜誌), his approval rating is currently the same as that of George W. Bush -- who had to invade another country on false pretenses, massacre hundreds of thousands of civilians, ruin the lives of countless others, spend gazillions of American tax dollars, throw the Middle East into turmoil, send the price of oil skyrocketing, and continue to threaten other countries. And we can't forget Hurricane Katrina and how many more flaws were revealed by that disaster.
That's right. After just over two months in office, Ma Ying-jeou's approval rating has slipped all the way down to 27 percent.
Talking Show (Monday, July 28, 2008) shows us Ma's survey numbers from the pro-blue Global Views Magazine (遠見雜誌) and the Economic Daily News (經濟日報) (Click to enlarge)
The smackdown On the Thursday, July 24 2008 edition of Talking Show (大話新聞), KMT spokes-whiner Chen Ming-yi (陳明義) made an ironic choice of words in his reply to someone during the call-in segment, and the caller smacked him right back.
The caller, a Mr. Wei (魏先生) from Kaohsiung, had joined in the discussion about Ma Ying-jeou's characterization of Taiwanese people as "cynical."
MR. WEI: Ma Ying-jeou's policies are giving Taiwan away to China. Does Ma care whether the Taiwanese people live or die? Therefore, Ma finds it easy to call the Taiwanese "cynical" or sei lai ko (it sounds sort of like "washing underwear" [洗內褲] in Taiwanese)?
(Laughter from the Talking Show panel about Mr. Wei's pun)
MR. WEI (continuing directly): Chen Ming-yi, I have a suggestion for you. Since you're here on this show, why don't you act a little more "humbly" and accept criticism from callers. Don't just sit there and protect your "boss" (Ma Ying-jeou), because people can tell whether you are speaking honestly or not. If you want to be like that, just don't come to the show.
CHEN MING-YI: Mr. Wei, I'm not here to protect Mr. [sic] Ma Ying-jeou. I just think that talking about this subject for three days straight is quite enough.
MR. WEI: What do you mean "enough"?! How long did you guys (the pan-blues and their supporters) rag on Chen Shui-bian?! You guys attacked A-bian 24 hours a day every day for eight years! Even during "midnight snack time," you guys attacked him! When our neighbors' ditch [the one that either they themselves or the local government should keep clean] was clogged, they acted like even that was A-bian's fault.
(More laughter from the Talking Show panel)
MR. WEI (continuing directly): So how can a ka hsiao [a Taiwanese insult at about the same level as calling someone a "bozo"] like you act like such a crybaby when the citizens complain about something for just 3 days? If you're going to be like that, just stay away.
CHEN MING-YI (off-screen): What gives you the right to call someone a "ka hsiao"?
At this point, host Cheng Hung-yi (鄭弘儀) is moving on to the next caller.
Mr. Wei from Kaohsiung didn't fall for the KMT bullshit! Show them that you know the real deal, and watch them whine!
Maybe it would be too much to request that the government pass on some of the blame to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, whose unreasonable partisan bickering resulted in a more than 12-month delay in the implementation of the Democratic Progressive Party government's eight-year flood prevention package.
Instead, we have been treated to passing the buck par excellence, with Premier Liu Chao-shiuan's (劉兆玄) top-level meeting on Monday blaming the Central Weather Bureau and requesting that it submit a report on how to improve its forecasting capabilities. This call came despite the bureau's warning last Wednesday -- a full day before the storm made landfall -- that Kalmaegi would bring "considerable" amounts of rain to both east and west coasts.
Remember what I wrote less than two weeks ago about "Ma Ying-jeou's thugs"? [highlighting added]:
If these four legislators did this without Ma's or KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung's (吳伯雄) knowledge or permission, shouldn't they be kicked out of the party? (Pre-completion update: Fai has offered to quit the party, but he wasn't kicked out.) If Ma and/or Wu did know about it, shouldn't they step down from their respective positions? And are the KMT's "apologies" really apologies when caucus whip Lin Yi-shih says that "these four legislators didn't do anything wrong." Is he advocating Gestapo-like tactics? What if the shoe were on the other foot?
Furthermore, can the KMT's "apologies" really count as apologies when a front-page ad in Thursday's United Daily News (聯合報) has Wu making the excuse that they "went to the wrong place at the wrong time"? Would it have been okay at "another time"?
But that was yesterday Well, they've gone and proven my point about those non-apology "apologies." Let's take a look at some more recent behavior from thug-islators Alex "The Faker" Fai (費鴻泰) and son-of-a-gangster Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才), with comparisons to their earlier "apologies" provided by the Thursday night edition of Talking Show (大話新聞):
Those "apologies" sure didn't last long, huh? Or, as I originally suspected, they were meaningless from the start.
Blues of a feather President-elect Ma "Harvard-trained ployer" Ying-jeou's (馬英九) Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has done the same thing by making "token gestures" to the survivors and family members of the victims of the 228 Massacre. Ma has also made election-related "promises" to the same victims. Ma and his party's insincerity is made apparent by the fact that they continue to idolize Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石 / 蔣中正) -- the "main culprit" in both that incident and the subsequent decades-long period of White Terror and martial law in Taiwan.
With the above information to set the stage, how long do you think it will be before Ma and his party try to resurrect the old Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (國立中正紀念堂)?
The DPP government had changed the name of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall and replaced the inscription dazhong zhizheng (大中至正) on the gate of the hall with "Liberty Square" last May as part of its "de-Chiang campaign," aimed at erasing symbols of dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石).
"Illegally changing the name of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall was ill-mannered and was, of course, invalid," Ma was quoted as saying in an interview with the Chinese-language China Times published yesterday.
Writer of letters threatening Chen Shui-bian and others is caught
Bluer than blue, badder than bad
Wednesday's Liberty Times (自由時報) had a headline story which their sister paper, the Taipei Times somehow missed [following translations by Tim Maddog]:
恐嚇總統、官員、立委、主播 前調查員落網
Former investigator who threatened the president, public officials, legislators, and commentators caught in dragnet
(Reporters Huang Tun-yan, Chiu Yan-ling, Yang Kuo-wen [spelling of all names guessed phonetically] / Taipei) Last week, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) received threats in a "New Year greeting card" telling him to beware of two bullets, that his daughter Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤) would be raped, and that his grandson Chao Yi-an (趙翊安) would be kidnapped. Yesterday [Tuesday], police in Taipei County's Chungho City arrested former investigator Yang Ching-hai (楊清海), based upon his handwriting and the batch numbers on the bullets. Beginning in November of 2005, the suspect mailed bullets as a threat to then-premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), signing his letter at "Secretary-General of the Black Collective." He also sent threatening letters to other elected representatives, officials, commentators, and others, and so far, he is suspected of involvement in at least 30 cases.
30 cases! It's about time they caught this guy.
What comes around goes around The words "Black Collective" (黑合會) mentioned above are a variation of the word "triad" (三合會), with the word for "three" replaced with the Mandarin word for "black," representing here the underworld of criminal gangs, the Mafia, etc. I found one article in the Taipei Times which refers to this "group" simply as the "Heiho Association." The connection there is that the writer of the threatening letters containing bullets said that the recipients would end up like Taipei County councilor Wu Shan-jeou (吳善九) of the People First Party (PFP), who was shot dead in his office on May 23, 2007. According to the aforementioned article, "Wu had also received a threatening letter containing a bullet."
According to information I've heard elsewhere, Yang is suspected of having mailed bullets to some people -- such as Talking Show (大話新聞) host Cheng Hung-yi (鄭弘儀) -- because they were "pro Taiwan independence," and of mailing bullets to people like former legislator Li Ao (李敖) because they were "too weak." Does this make him "neither blue nor green"? Perhaps he'd be better described as "bluer than blue."
Playing secretly recorded tapes through loud speakers and making accusations in front of a curious crowd, a Buddhist nun who claimed to have been raped by a respected elderly monk yesterday turned what was supposed to be a solemn religious ceremony into a fiasco, with loudspeakers playing what can only be regarded as decidedly secular content.
The monk, known as Master Juhsu (如虛), had planned to preside at a ceremony at a Taipei monastery yesterday, but failed to show up to avoid "disturbances."
In the absence of the master, Miaowen (妙文) -- the nun making the accusations -- demanded that Juhsu take off his cassock and apologize to her for what she said was his alleged sexual offenses against her. Miaowen has filed charges of rape against Juhsu, who was her master 12 years ago at a Buddhist temple in Taichung, central Taiwan.
The 40-year-old nun claimed to have spoken to four other nuns who said they had been sexually assaulted by the same man.
Miaowen and dozens of her sympathizers, before hearing of his decision to stay away, had expected to confront Juhsu during the hand-over ceremony, and brought with them loud speakers and banners.
[...]
Miaowen's spokesman, Yang Ching-hai (楊清海), a former agent of the Investigation Bureau, said he had checked the authenticity of the tapes before he promised to help Miaowen, after hearing suggestions that they had been tampered with.
Yang admitted that Miaowen had planned what she wanted from the conversation, prior to the call with Juhsu, which she recorded without him knowing it.
"According to my own judgement on the basis of evidence provided by Miaowen, I think she is telling the truth," Yang said.
Very disturbing. I hope to learn much more about this Yang character in the very near future.
The Lon Chaney of Taiwan politics? In a semi-facetious comment over on Michael Turton's blog last Thursday, I wrote about the many different "versions" of the increasingly ragged-looking former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九):
Michael, I believe Hsieh may have been talking about the Ma Ying-jeou (v.1) who said he hoped the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth Corps would "produce another Hu Jintao." This was apparently a "different" Ma Ying-jeou from the one (v.2) who got mad at the DPP for juxtaposing his image with someone shouting "Long li[v]e Hu Jintao!"
Then again, there was also that Ma Ying-jeou (v.3) who said that Taiwan could join the UN using the name "China Taipei" (中國台北). (See the very beginning of Part 3 of the September 5, 2007 edition of Talking Show [大話新聞]. If Ma [v.3] "protested" that name, as he says right there in the video, why did he even say the words, much less suggest them as a "possibility" -- in the same sentence, even?!)
The case against Hsieh will rest entirely on which anti-Taiwan Ma Ying-jeou he was referring to. I hear there are several more of these Ma Ying-jeous ;-)
UPDATE: A little bird tells me that these are all the very same Ma Ying-jeou, and he's long overdue for an upgrade -- so long overdue, he may just have to be replaced altogether. I'm sure readers will understand my confusion.
Therefore, I am not surprised to see Ma doing yet another 180-degree turn while trying to blame the situation on his political opponents.
What is it this time? Let me give you the background first. Here's something I wrote on my personal blog back on November 14, 2005:
The artist formerly known as "the defender of the ROC flag," Ma Ying-jeou At two international sporting events held recently in Taipei (the Asian Short Track Speed Skating championship and the Sixth Asian Youth Judo Championship), the ROC flag (which I consider to be the flag of an occupying power rather than the "real" Taiwan flag) was replaced by the Olympic flag of Chinese Taipei which, due to Chinese pressure, has been flown at the Olympics since 1984. (Being mostly white, it also looks way too much like a surrender flag.)
The problem this time is that while the events were held in Taiwan, not only was the ROC flag removed from the facility, but spectators were forbidden by the event organizers from even carrying such flags inside. The organizer of the latest even[t] shed crocodile tears on TV news while blaming "the (central?) government" for the situation.
Good try, but the thing is that [then-premier] Frank Hsieh had made clear that there were no laws to prevent such free speech.
But when the flag of the enemy is raised, and the local one is lowered (at an event representing "peaceful competition"?), the lyrics of Alanis Morisette naturally start bouncing around in your brain.
(Note that if you hover on the "Alanis Morisette" link, you'll see that there were "only" about 700 Chinese missiles aimed at Taiwan back then. The number now surely exceeds 1,000.)
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who doubles as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman, said that all international games held in Taipei follow the IOC's rules.
"This is about following the rules of the IOC and ensuring that sports events run smoothly. It has nothing to do with my national identity ... I love the Republic of China and I love the national flag," Ma said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has vowed to defend the right of audiences at sports games to carry national flags, adding that if he were elected next year, his government would cancel any games where Chinese teams refused to cooperate.
"I will make it clear with China that the existence of the Republic of China [ROC] cannot be ignored in cross-strait exchanges. Any move that belittles the ROC will damage cross-strait relations," Ma said in a written statement on Friday.
Ma made the remarks after attending a meeting with locals in Pingtung, where he was asked to comment on the Straits Cup basketball tournament in Hualien last week, where some fans were prevented from waving the national flag.
"We will fight for our freedom to bring the national flag if the host country blocks Taiwanese from carrying the national flag or from singing the national anthem," he said in the statement.
Ma said that International Olympic Committee regulations on national flags and anthems should not include the audience. As such, audiences should be allowed to bring flags and sing national anthems.
"As long as the audiences bring the national flags or sing national anthems voluntarily, their actions should not be banned, as it is the public's right to express their passions for their country," he said.
If elected next year, Ma said he would not allow China to demand that the country cover national flags or pictures of Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) during cross-strait exchange events in Taiwan.
"Such incidents happened frequently after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came to power. I will not accept it and won't let it happen again if I am elected," he said.
What a load of horsecrap! These events may have happened "after the [DPP] came to power," but more importantly, they happened under Ma's mayorship (and even during his brief party chairmanship), and the DPP lambasted the incidents in real time.
Oh, and there's a big problem with Ma's use of the word "should" -- while Olympic rules may "forbid political banners in venues," and while agreements with the International Olympic Committee may apply the flag rule to the teams and venues, I don't believe that these agreements prevent spectators from waving the ROC flag.
Note also that in the most recent flag flap, the people stopping spectators from displaying their flags used the same excuse as Ma above -- the one about harming Taiwan's international reputation.
So, while Ma couldn't control events in his own city, he hides that truth so as to be able to appear that he can control them abroad?
Read the full article to get the DPP's side of the story from party chairman Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃[方方土]).
Yeah, but you're only quoting "green" media, and besides, Maddog, who stopped the flags? Then how about this from ETtoday on December 14, 2001, with a quote straight from the horse's mouth [English translations, explanations mine]:
亞洲盃女足賽／比照奧會模式 馬英九籲民眾配合
Asia Women's Soccer Cup / follow Olympic model, Ma Ying-jeou request's people's cooperation
The 13th Asia Women's Soccer Cup was held on the 4th. Due to the presence of teams from the 2 sides and 3 areas [refers to the 2 sides of the Taiwan Strait, including the 3 "areas" of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China], the Olympic model [i.e., calling Taiwan "Chinese Taipei" and using a special flag in ceremonies] was recommended in order to avoid conflicts regarding the national flag. Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou said, "As host city, Taipei must abide by the international norms, or it won't be able to continue hosting international event, and I hope the public will cooperate."
[...]
由於今年中國大陸與台灣都有代表隊出賽，為免先前「亞洲盃溜冰錦標賽」因國旗而引發的抗議事件重演，市府將遵照中華足協規定，比照奧運模式進行賽事，台灣代表隊的名稱為中華台北、會旗則是梅花旗。 As mainland China and Taiwan both have teams in the competition, in order to prevent a recurrence of the protest incidents like those which happened at the Asia Cup skating championships, the city will comply with the rules of the Chinese Football [Soccer] Association and follow the Olympic model which is to use the name "Chinese Taipei" and the "plum blossom" flag.
Once more: Olympic rules don't prevent spectators from waving the ROC flag.
People may not be surprised by this, but in ROC year 90 [2001], when Taipei City hosted the Asia Women's Soccer Cup, some spectators carried [ROC] national flags into the arena, and police told these spectators "Carrying the [ROC] national flag will harm our international reputation." The police then snatched the flags away. However, any 5-star flags of Communist China [PRC] that were present at the event were allowed to remain. And at the 2005 Chinese-Japanese-Korean Invitational Baseball competition, the Taipei City Government [Y'know, the one mis-led by Ma Ying-jeou?] asked police to enter the arena in order to check people for possession of the ROC "blue sky, white sun, red earth" flag. The day before the 2007 Asian Men's Volleyball Quarterfinals in Chiayi City's [another KMT-misled city] Kang Ping Sports Park, the hosts and the Chiayi City Government forbade spectators from bringing [ROC] national flags into the arena and removed from view any [ROC] national flags that were originally on site.
Same mendacious excuse, many different days.
And as you see above, pan-blue media tells us it was the "Taipei City Government," then under Ma Ying-jeou, who told police to enforce these rules and Ma himself asking the public to cooperate with rules he says on other days "should not include the audience."
Anyway, the real problem behind this is much bigger -- the fact that Ma Ying-jeou's "ROC" includes all of China, and even Mongolia. That fantasy is smashed to bits by simply recognizing the fact that the ROC is defunct and that Taiwan isn't part of China, but these are the things that make people like Ma's heads explode.
So be sure to stick around for the next episode of... "The Many Faces of Ma Ying-jeou"!
The front-page headline of the September 4, 2007 edition of the China Times (based in Taiwan) read: 「漁署警告：鰻魚有毒」 ("Fisheries Agency warns: eels are toxic"). As regular readers might guess, that paper is playing loosely with the facts, and that's an understatement.
Screenshot from Thursday's Talking Show (大話新聞)
The Taipei Times, on the other hand, informs readers in a non-sensational fashion and includes the important facts:
[A]gency officials point out that only a tiny minority of aquaculture farms sampled tested positive for banned additives, with 99.88 percent of samples passing the test.
[T]he level of enrofloxacin found in the tainted eels, from 2.59 to 9.68 parts per billion, was not considered a serious health risk and could have resulted from environmental contamination rather than deliberate usage on the part of the farmers.
"The problem is the China Times improperly overemphasized the isolated cases of violation," said James Sha (沙志一), deputy director-general of the fisheries agency.
Right! While 99.88 percent of the samples passed muster, the China Times focused on the 0.12 percent, exaggerated it into a front-page story with a bold-faced headline, accused the fisheries agency of issuing the warning, and made excuses for such a headline. Can you guess what their excuse might be?
They claimed they were "warning" the public about something that could cause them potential harm.
Wrong! The facts did not merit such a "warning" which is why the fisheries agency did not issue one.
The real danger here is in the China Times' lack of concern with things like facts. For them, a spectacular headline seems to be what counts the most.
Toxic media First of all, simple observation seems to indicate that the toxicity index of the China Times' headlines is far greater than 0.12 percent. I could be wrong, but given the examples they have presented us, should I bother to even check? If I'm proven wrong, can I follow their stunning example and say I was only trying to help people? (Might I even add a "Boo hoo! Why's everybody picking on me?!" for good measure?)
No! Of course I can't do those things!
Priorities But there are real questions to ponder which are much more important. For example, why this story, and why now? Are they in a frenzy over the revelation that the US doesn't recognize the "ROC" as a country, nor does it accept Taiwan as being part of China? Are they afraid because China hasn't yet invaded to "save" them from such inconvenient facts?
Is it because Japan is a large importer of Taiwan's eel meat? Is it an attempt to manufacture "evidence" upon which they'll base their next report about Taiwan's "bad economy" (經濟不景氣)?
Is it just because they can't stop themselves and will say anything at all in an attempt to get anybody at allto hate the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration? And wouldn't that be due to the fact that every time some long-ignored truth is finally recognized due to the efforts that have been made under this administration, it knocks holes in the China Times' fictitious cause?
Could it be for many -- or even all -- of the above reasons? It's long past time for this kind of toxic media environment to end, and I wish the eel farmers the best of luck with their planned lawsuit against the China Times.
Whether it's used about Taiwan or not, I'm sick and tired of the vague and potentially dishonest "some people say" formulation that keeps appearing in articles by so-called professional reporters. It's already been used multiple times by international media outlets with regard to yesterday's elections in Taiwan.
Who, Maddog, who?! And where and why?! In yet another BBC piece about Taiwan which dares not bear a byline (yet which "quotes" Caroline Gluck), you can read this nonsense:
A BBC correspondent says the result is not the crushing blow some had expected the government to suffer. The vote was seen as a key test for the government.
"[S]een" by whom? "[E]xpected" by whom? The nameless writer won't tell us the answer to either of these questions, probably because the BBCworks hand-in-hand with pro-blue, pro-China CTiTV, and the pan-blue media was exactly who "expected" (meaning "hoped to achieve by saying it again and again") a "crushing blow."
If that's not enough nonsense for you, read this bit from the same article:
The electoral campaign was tightly fought and involved national as well as local issues, according to the BBC's Caroline Gluck in Taipei.
Mayors are powerful in Taiwan, and the post in Taipei is seen as a stepping stone for presidential hopefuls.
"[S]een" by whom? Is there an echo in here? There will be, as long as Gluck (quoting herself?) and the BBC keep dishing us this muck. That meme (an obvious attempt to make current Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou the next president) must be destroyed. In all three of the elections in which the people of Taiwan got to choose their president, they not only chose former Taipei mayors -- they chose pro-independence candidates who were born in Taiwan who were running against unificationists born in China. Stick that in your meme folder, and paste it!
See for yourself Below, you can view two clips from Saturday night's Talking Show (大話新聞) which reveal the similarities and differences between pan-green media surveys (Liberty Times [自由時報]), pan-blue media surveys (China Times [中國時報] and United Daily News [聯合報]), and the actual election results. [UPDATE: While both videos use Mandarin and Taiwanese, I've added basic English translations on the YouTube pages where the videos are hosted. Click "(more)" in the description to the right of each video there to read them in full.]
You make this dog mad, Grauwels AP correspondent Stephan Grauwels rehashes the same bland recipe for saying whatever the reporter wants to say:
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taiwan's ruling party narrowly won a crucial mayoral election in one southern city Saturday, while the opposition candidate won comfortably in the capital of Taipei in a pair of votes seen by many as a referendum for President Chen Shui-bian.
"[S]een" by whom? Indeed, there is an echo in here, but it's because there are way too many of them in the international media. If they do it enough, when you Google it, it will seem to be true, but if you follow the links, you'll just be going in circles without ever finding out who -- outside of the media -- has "seen" these things. Don't be fooled by this classic propaganda trick.
Today's Taipei Times has the decency to at least answer the question which should be on readers' minds, that being, "Who are these nebulous 'seers'?":
Although many observers, especially in the international media, were depicting the poll as a "referendum" on the president and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), this was clearly not the case, as the election maintained the current balance of power in the cities' mayorships and city councils. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) retained its hold on the Taipei mayorship, while the DPP's candidate won in Kaohsiung.
Note equally that the Taipei Times has the decency to tell us -- every time they write about them -- that the full name of the "Nationalists" mentioned five times by Grauwels in his piece (without even once using the clarifying adjective in front) is the "Chinese Nationalist Party" (KMT). Don't you forget it.
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