After the Taiwan-based media company Want Want China Times Group [1] acquired [2] 60% of the country's second largest cable television service this July, it continued to expand this November, acquiring 32% of the country’s best-selling newspaper Apple Daily [3] [zh], from Hong Kong-based Next Media Ltd [4].
It is obvious that the pro-China chairman of Want Want China Times Group, Tsai Eng-Meng [5], aims to extend his influence in Taiwan and its monopoly in media is generating a lot of anxiety among local Taiwanese who are worried about Chinese government intervention in Taiwan politics.
Despite mass students’ protest [6] against media monopoly following the latest acquisition in Taiwan, the government ignored their concerns and demands. Now overseas Taiwanese have organized an online protest [7] across the world.
Yu-Hsi Liu [8], an economist, explained why she supports this protest:
I know libertarians do not support Anti-monopoly law. But in Taiwan, anti-monopoly has different context: we are facing a exogenous force which threatens our free market and freedom. Its monopoly power does not come from a natural market process; it comes from the rent-seeking of [ruling party] KMT [9] and CCP [10] [Communist Party of China]. It is why we are opposing to monopoly in the media market.
A group of Taiwanese students in Egypt [11] [zh] also explained how media monopoly would bias the audience’s viewpoint:
兩周前加薩砲火再起,西方主流媒體大多單方面的報導以色列政府所發出的聲明,而輕描淡寫報導以色列軍隊造成慘烈的平民死傷……各大西方媒體的不平衡報導是背後有無數政治和資金操作導致。……再反觀台灣,當我們的媒體被中國資金控制,為財團利益屈服,我們該如何能看見真相?
To protest against the influence of the Chinese government, a Taiwanese protested [12] at Tiananmen square [13], a place symbolizing the civilians’ resentment and political repression in China.
An online protester’s note [14] [zh] submitted from Germany may summarize the thoughts of these supporters across the world:
趁我現在還能夠說話,言論發表不會被莫名其妙撤掉,趁你現在抓不到我,趁你現在封不住我的嘴,我要大聲說:「不管你是錢賺得不夠多,還是手上握有更多更黑暗的政治利益,長遠來看,這麼做就是出賣了國家的安全,我不願意被你們控制,我不想當個愚民,我只是一個大學生,但我堅持抗議到底。」