Felon Trump comment conjures questions over Taiwan’s attitude towards free press
A journalist from TaiwanPlus — a public broadcaster like Japan’s NHK and Canada’s CBC — came under fire for referring to Donald J. Trump as a “convicted felon” during US election coverage. The original video was removed after public backlash and Taiwan’s Minister of Culture calling the situation “severe.” Upon a two-hour board meeting undertaken by the Public Television Service (PTS), which runs TaiwanPlus, the consensus was that “the report contained parts that were inappropriate” and “appropriate disciplinary action” was needed. The culture ministry that supervises the nation’s public media services denied interference.
Trump is a convicted felon. But can Taiwan’s public broadcaster say it?
Camp “read the room and tread carefully”: Tax-funded public media should be wary of how such framing can be detrimental to US-Taiwan relations in these precarious times when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) threatens to take the island nation by force, especially given how the US president-elect reacts to unfavorable media coverage.
Camp “defend facts”: The journalist provided important context, that America was either going to elect its first woman president or its first convicted felon president. Louise Watt should not be punished for stating facts, for TaiwanPlus, unlike China’s state mouthpiece CGTN, is an independent source of tax-funded news.
There were also false rumors originating from social media platform X on how TaiwanPlus elected not to send a correspondent to cover the Republican election watch party in Florida. Multiple requests for access were denied by the Trump team, but a permit was granted by the Kamala Harris campaign in DC, said the Taiwan Public TV Service Foundation.
Citing underperforming figures for viewership and app downloads, several Kuomintang (KMT) lawmakers are calling for the dissolution of TaiwanPlus, saying it is a waste of Taiwanese tax dollars. Minister of Culture Li Yuan (李遠) has responded by explaining it has been a hard journey in building the platform from scratch, and that improving it is better than scrapping it.
While initial reports say the culture minister ordered the removal of the clip, it appears the decision was made after the minister reached out to TaiwanPlus — saying the situation was “severe (非常嚴重)” — and after an internal editorial meeting, as public media should be operating independently of the government. PTS clarified that “the decision to remove the story was made by the TaiwanPlus editorial team and was not at the direction of the Ministry of Culture.”
Watt’s clip was re-uploaded after adjustments were made. The new edition reporting from Florida states: “This was always going to be a historic election. The US was either going to vote in its first female president or its first convicted felon. Well, America looks like its chosen the felon.”
“The decision to take down the story on November 8 was based on its content not aligning with the principles of public media and appropriate journalistic standards,” stressed PTS. “After revisions, the story was reuploaded to the website.”
TaiwanPlus also issued a separate statement defending the usage of “convicted felon” to describe the president-elect, explaining that public broadcasters like the BBC (UK), ABC (Australia), and PBS (America) have also used the same factual description for Trump.
TaiwanPlus CEO Michael Yu (余佳璋), who voluntarily asked for disciplinary action, will receive a formal demerit for the incident and other administrative oversights but retains his position to lead and improve TaiwanPlus’ operations.
“It was found that the explanations for the temporary removal of the report were neither timely nor adequate,” the PTS board meeting concluded. An internal task force will help advance transparency and accountability.
“Moving forward, TaiwanPlus will focus on strengthening training programs, updating international news production guidelines, fostering a collaborative and inclusive international team and actively engaging in constructive dialogue with society.”
A TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Nov 6: TaiwanPlus sends two teams to cover the US elections, with Louise Watt stationed in Florida and Joyce Tseng reporting from Washington, DC. Fueled by false rumors of TaiwanPlus not bothering to send a team to the Trump camp, as well as arguments over Watt’s word choice, discontent among X users began to brew and spill over onto other social media channels.
Nov 8: A KMT legislator draws attention to the “convicted felon” comment in a Facebook post and partakes in several media interviews. TaiwanPlus temporarily removes the video, saying while the term is widely used by global public broadcasters, the segment may have been over-simplistic in calling the US presidential election “a choice between a woman and a felon.”
Nov 9: Minister of Culture Li Yuan fields media questions, calling the situation “severe” and that he initiated contact with PTS immediately upon learning of the public backlash. Li denies allegations of government interference, saying PTS has strict editorial guidelines and it was the broadcaster’s ultimate decision to pull the clip.
Nov 11: The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) issues press release claiming unfair coverage of its founder Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) by TaiwanPlus, which Taiwan’s third-largest political party asserts to be a propaganda outlet for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The former Taipei mayor is currently held incommunicado for suspected corruption.
Nov 15: PTS holds board meeting to discuss the incident, concluding with the CEO of TaiwanPlus receiving a demerit for oversight and the establishment of a task force, staffed with three members of the PTS International Communications Advisory Committee, for enhancing news quality and impartiality.
Nov 21 — : Legislative Yuan is currently reviewing Taiwan’s 2025 cultural budget.
WHAT MEDIA SAFEGUARDERS ARE SAYING
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Nov. 14:
We understand that the Taiwanese government considers the US presidential election a significant issue, but to interfere with a broadcaster’s editorial line in order to improve diplomatic relations is absolutely unacceptable. We call on Premier Cho Jung-tai to renew his government’s commitment to press freedom by pledging that the public media’s editorial independence will be fully respected.
Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club (TFCC) on Nov. 16:
While TaiwanPlus’ supervisory body, PTS, has denied any direct intervention by the Ministry of Culture, we call on the leadership of TaiwanPlus to reassure the public and its employees of their commitment to maintaining editorial independence.
We firmly support journalists and their right to report facts without fear of censorship or undue influence, and stand in solidarity with Louise Watt, a professional journalist and highly regarded member of our community, who contributed to the report in question. Ms. Watt should not face personal attacks or unwarranted criticisms for her reporting.
STATE-FUNDED VS. STATE-RUN MEDIA
TaiwanPlus celebrates its third anniversary this year. The concept of establishing an English-language channel to “share Taiwan with the world,” according to its mission statement, started in 2020 under the Tsai Ing-wen administration. The Central News Agency (CNA), the national wire agency 50% funded by tax dollars, was first tasked with the process of launching a digital presence for the multimedia platform in 2021. A year later, the project was transferred to PTS and focus shifted to maintaining a 24-hour TV channel to offer “independent and impartial daily news” and “some of the nation’s best food, music, and travel programming.”
Over 90% of its viewership is based overseas. Since 2023, the TaiwanPlus channel has also been available in US hotels located in key cities ranging from Washington, DC to New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle. An assortment of cultural and investigative documentaries, some self-produced and others sourced from outside the network, is also free-for-view on its website and YouTube. Original series, animations, and podcasts have also been added to TaiwanPlus’ repertoire.
The public broadcaster, which has an annual budget of about NT$800 million (US$24.6 million), has come under attack from opposition lawmakers during a recent parliamentary review of the government’s 2025 budget. A KMT legislator said the “state propaganda outlet” works to “direct media attention of international communities” in favor of the DPP. The TPP caucus called attention to the high proportion of coverage dedicated to corruption allegations pertaining to its Chairman Ko, a presidential candidate in Taiwan’s January 2024 elections. Both parties deem calling Trump a “convicted felon” a biased move that could endanger US-Taiwan relations.
“The furore surrounding the report and its removal highlights an embarrassingly outmoded attitude toward journalism among press and politicians in Taiwan,” wrote journalist James Baron for The News Lens. “Rather than their stated concerns about embarrassing Taiwan or courting controversy with the incoming Trump administration, perhaps this is exactly why these politicians are so concerned about offending the US president-elect: They share his fundamental antipathy to a free press.”
From a former TaiwanPlus employee, Ryan Ho Kilpatrick: “This latest controversy now has many more people from the outside asking the same questions staff had long been asking themselves: is TaiwanPlus a public broadcaster like the BBC or CBC, editorially independent and accountable to the public, or is it merely a soft-pedaling vehicle for prevailing government sensibilities?”
Kilpatrick, now managing editor of the China Media Project, continued with: “Taiwan itself also needs to answer an even bigger question: are its commitment to freedom and its friendship with the US not strong enough to survive facts-based journalism and the occasional snipe from a member of the country’s political opposition?”
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