Taipei bans HK daily's school distribution over rude content
The Taipei city government has ordered all its schools to cancel Apple Daily subscriptions after the Hong Kong-owned newspaper was fined for posting an obscene animation on a newly launched news service.
Apple Daily attacked the move as 'purely political and without legal grounds', adding that it was considering challenging the order.
The paper, owned by Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's Next Media, has come under heavy criticism for the service, which delivers computer-animated reconstructions of real-life violent incidents over the internet and on mobile phones. The city government deemed the content too explicit for young audiences.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-ping said on Thursday the daily had violated the children and youth welfare law and imposed a NT$500,000 (HK$120,000) fine, the most severe penalty possible for failing to observe the rating system for news content.
He instructed all 300 municipal schools to immediately cancel their Apple Daily subscriptions.
Apple Daily advertising director Mark Simon said yesterday that the ban seriously harmed press freedom.
'It is like the Catholic Church banning the Da Vinci Code,' he said, referring to the movie based on the Dan Brown novel, which was criticised by the Vatican. 'We totally disagree with the decision. It is absolutely wrong to ban students' access to Apple Daily.
'The mayor's decision is purely political and has no legal grounds. We are now discussing the issue with legal advisers so that we may challenge the order.'
Simon said Taiwan was an open society and that Apple Daily had the largest circulation among newspapers in the island.
'It is such a shame. And I am afraid that the mayor's decision has given Taiwan a black eye,' he added.
On its front page yesterday, Taiwan's Apple Daily called the mayor's move a 'curfew'.
Taipei city spokeswoman Rose Chao said that was untrue. 'Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-ping and the Taipei government totally respect freedom of the press. It is the symbol and the most valuable asset of democratic society. Our government has never intervened in the news content and news freedom of Apple Daily or any other media,' she said.
Chao added that it was wrong to say there was a 'curfew' as the government had only ordered schools not to subscribe to the paper, and restricted display of the daily and some access to its online version in public libraries. She noted that such measures, which were implemented under the children and youth welfare law, would continue until the daily improved its content classification to meet the government's regulations.
