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TAIWAN TWIST
Leonard, who lived in Taiwan for four years, is a free-lance writer based in Berkeley, California.
In September 1991, ICRT, the only English-language radio station in Taiwan, fired two of its best reporters. Station management said "financial difficulties" had required a major restructuring; altogether, fifteen people were let go. No hidden agenda here, spokesmen said, just tough times.
Taiwan's Chinese press and the reporters themselves, both American, disagreed vehemently, to the point that the reporters took the step -- unprecedented for foreign nationals in Taiwan -- of suing the station for "improper dismissal" in a district court.
Six years ago such a story would have raised no eyebrows in Taiwan. Martial law and strict government censorship of the press were an accepted fact of life. Less than a decade ago, suspended publishing licenses, stiff fines, and even jail sentences awaited those who strayed from the ruling Kuomintang party line.
Martial law ended in 1986, however, and censorship is a thing of the past. Opposition parties are now legal and street protests have become commonplace. The new atmosphere of freedom is one reason the Taiwanese press, exercising its recently discovered muscles, has been so eager to cover the dismissal of the two reporters.
Even more striking is the fact that no one is blaming the government for the firings. According to the reporters and the press, ICRT's own board of directors is responsible.
Interestingly, the station can be described as more American than Taiwanese. To its listeners, certainly, ICRT, or International Community Radio, is an American institution. Born in 1979, ICRT grew out of United States Armed Forces Radio, Taiwan. The ten-person board of directors -- which has strong ties to the American business community -- includes two Americans, a Dutch meat importer, and, if one is to judge by last names alone, seven Chinese. Several of those Chinese directors, however, have spent many years in the United States, even holding American passports.
Furthermore, the news department is dominated by Americans. Current news director Doc Casey, who personally gave notice to the dismissed reporters, is a veteran of Armed Forces Radio, Korea. On-air personalities are generally American, as are most reporters and producers.
In the past, ICRT's newscasters cared little about local news, frequently mispronouncing Chinese names and ignoring breaking stories. But in the summer of 1990, long-time staff member Nicholas Gould, one of the most respected foreign journalists in Taiwan, became deputy news director. Gould had grand ideas about gaining listeners in the competitive Taiwan radio market by beefing up domestic news. He hired two Americans, George Wehrfritz and Jim Finkle, both of whom speak Chinese fluently and who, along with other ICRT staffers, felt that professional news coverage was part and parcel of the great wave of change sweeping across Taiwanese society.
Unfortunately, according to Wehrfritz, ICRT's board of directors, and in particular the Americans on it, still have a "martial law mentality." The moment of truth occurred after the station aired reports on a street protest organized by the opposition Democratic Progressive party (DPP) on April 17th. The reports, said Wehrfritz, led to the impression on the part of the board that ICRT was being perceived as "DPP radio."
In August, the board designated a "committee of four" to look into station restructuring and appointed Doc Casey as news director. Casey issued a series of threatening memos, one of which warned of the "dangerous attitude" of journalists who "from time to time . . . are seeking to become martyrs to promote or defend freedom of speech. . . . Once you step outside those boundaries, you're on your own, and believe me you will not only lose my support, but most likely your job as well."
And the two reporters did lose their jobs, a month after this warning. Gould was demoted, and his popular weekly public affairs show, Issues and Opinions, was taken off the air.
But in May, the Taipei district court found in favor of the fired reporters, ruling that they were owed back pay and benefits. Meanwhile, the press focused so much public attention on the station that management soon found itself forced to put Gould's show back on the air. It has given him a relatively free hand in reporting domestic news ever since -- a potent comment on the change in Taiwanese society, where the press itself is becoming the guardian of the free press.
