Who support Chen Shui-bian?

Chen Shui-bian is still the famous person in Taiwan, although he wears the stripes for a long time. When I read the articles about him, I always feel funny and annoying. The most interesting news is political news, because this kind of news makes of different benefits. Only 14 days past, many new stories appear. Along with the inquest process, many witnesses appear in count, so much low-down is exposed to the public. The stories about Chen Shui-bian is more than 11 thru, the number of news articles is about 50, and the editorials are more than 10. Three columnists published about nine column articles according Chen Shui-bian. Although the number of the editorials and column articles seems many, the slant of them is very obvious. Most of them support the opponents of Chen Shui-bian. Compared with one month ago, the crime of Chen and his family members is exposed much more, so the supporters of Chen cannot keep confident as before. The decline of Chen comes to stay, so many supporters begin to consider their future.

The most interesting report about Chen Shui-bian is according his birthday. Feb. 18 is his 58th birthday. As an ex-president, he experienced many royal birthday celebrations. But, this time, everything changes. I choose two representational articles from the editorials to do my analysis.

Although, Chen cannot bob up like a cork, many people still support him and his party. It is difficult to explain why they are such obstinate. The birthday of their hero is an important thing to them, so some of the supporters went to the jail to express sympathy and solicitude for Chen Shui-bian. Besides the Green people, who always support Chen, Chen’s colleagues went to the jail too. The common people expressd their opinion very directly. They brought the home-made traditional Chinese birthday food, and sung the Chinese birthday song together. The colleagues of Chen did not do so, but they took five big birthday cakes there. The outside of jail was very hilarious, but Chen, who must stay in jail, cannot feel it.

The media, which belong to the supporters of Chen, published the editorial according the contribution of Chen Shui-bian. They emphasized the support power to Chen Shui-bian all over Taiwan: the birthday cards, the slogan, and the fanatic behaviors of the supporters. Because the crime of Chen cannot be canceled, the supporters did not involve this topic. They adapted a new way to support Chen: the loss of Chen devoting himself in politics. The article described Chen as a heroic tragedy, who built up from nothing and contributed himself to Taiwan. In this editorial, the family members of Chen are all unfortunates. Because of Chen’s special position, his family members must tolerate many things. To the birthday celebration, this editorial praised the supporters’ behaviors certainly.

At the same time, the opponents would not miss the good chance to attack Chen and his supporters. The story is the same story, but different editorials pay attention to the different parts of the story. The anti-editorial said: the number of supporters of Chen is less and less. Only 30 to 40 people went to the outside of jail to celebrate the birthday for their hero. The colleagues, who took birthday cakes to jail, were described as designers. Because the birthday cakes cannot be taken into the jail, these cakes were political props. These former colleagues did not care if the ex-president can eat these cakes. The only son of Chen Shui-bian admited his guilt to the count, in order to reduce his penalty. His behavior, which is a serious bad behaviour in China, is regarded as unfilial. This time, the editorial emphasized the terrible family education again: none of the family members went to visit Chen on his birthday. The most interesting detail in this editorial is the dogs, which were taken to the outside of the jail. You cannot find dogs in the support articles, but the title of the auti-editorial is: dogs support Chen. The dogs wore special coats. The supporters wrote slogan on these coats. They wanted to add new support power to their team, but created a jok for the opponents.

An Interesting Family!

Chen Shui-bian, the ex-president of Taiwan, contributed numberless news materails to the press. From January 14, Chen Shui-bian, his friends and his family created many hot points. It is really difficult to make a statistics about the number of news articles about him. According to incomplete statistics, the number should be more than 50. But most of them focused on the main three stories. On the other hand, the comments of his news increased very much, because the trail of Chen Shui-bian is going to the critical moment. About 30 comments discussed the Chen cases.

First of all, I want to talk about our “hero” – Chen Shui-bian. Recently, he lives in jail, but he still attracts the attention of the press. January 25 is Chinese New Year, the ex-president cannot give others “Hongbao (red paper containing money as a gift )” as other years. Many former colleagues went to the jail to visit him, but they had different goals. The media which support Chen Shui-bian and Independence of Taiwan, reported the bad life condition and the bad spirit of Chen Shui-bian. They described Chen Shui-bian as a frustrated hero, who will bob up like a cork. The media which support reunification of the country, did not use the words such as tacky, poor or painful to describe the jail life of Chen Shui-bian. The human management, the abundant supper of Chinese new year's eve, and the strange behaviors of Chen Shui-bian and others were their focuses. Chen Shui-bian is an extreme guy, so any comment cannot remain neutral. His supporters are waiting for his re-rising, and his opponents are watching a farce. After all, as a prisoner, Chen Shui-bian has no chance to speak to the media directly, so many comments based on various guesses.

In thebeginning of 2009, Chen Shui-bian is the famous person matter-of-course. But from January 20, his family members attract more attention of the whole society. Some media call the behavior of the son of Chen Shui-bian – Chen Zhi-zhong as patricide, because Chen Zhi-zhong and his wife concedes his crime to the judge in order to reduce their prison term. Besides this couple, Chen Shui-bian’s brother-in-law, Wu Ching-mao, also pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering. The family members participating in Chen’s crime is undoubted, but Chen Zhi-zhong couple and Wu Ching-mao pleading guilty is still unexpected, neither to Chen’s supporters, nor his opponents. Because this situation is very special, different comments express different opinions. The Green media, who support Chen, feel pity for Chen. They said: Chen is a wretched father, who is hurted by his son. And these media criticize Chen Zhi-zhong’s decision. As the son of ex-president, Chen Zhi-zhong conceded his crime. How can Chen Shui-bian defend himself? At the same time, the Blue media, who oppose Chen, think the ex-president is a machinator, instead of a sad father. Chen has huge wealth abroad, so he needs his heir – Chen Zhi-zhong to master it. Chen Zhi-zhong pleading guilty is not a symbol of resipiscence, but a strategy.

Chen Zhi-zhong amazes the society, and his sister – Chen Xing-yu also shocks the world. The lady is going to be crazy, because of the pressure from media. As the only one family member, who is not a part of Chen cases, Chen Xing-yu is a witness instead of a criminal. But it is not a good thing for her, because she has no protection of police. Many media follow the track of her, either in Taiwan, or in New York. She took a qualification test of dentist in New York during Chinese New Year, after her father asked her to stay in Taiwan. When she finished her test, many media wanted to interview her as their appointment before. But the ex-princess abused the media suddenly, and kept 20 minutes, on the street of NY. It is not easy as an ex-princess. To her reaction to the media pressure, different media express different positions. The Green ones still commiserate her fate, and they compare Miss Chen with a priness of ancient China. That girl was almost killed by her father- the king. In their opinion, Miss Chen is innocent, so the media should not disturb her life. But the Blue ones point out the final goal of Miss Chen’s travel is not the qualificantion test, but diverting wealth in the United States and immigration. It is worthy to analyze why she left Taiwan at such a sensitive time.

Review all of the stories I have collected thus far, I do not think any article can remain neutral, including news stories. Because every reporter has his or her position, and unique viewpoint of the event. And every medium has its position, so whether to publish this article or not, how to choose the viewpoint of report, depend on the character of this medium. The government of Mainland-China cannot accept the Independence of Taiwan, so the court decision to Chen cases is very crucial. But the main media in Mainland-China do not report the details of Chen Cases, because they are waiting for the final result. The local media of Mainland-China published the articles of Chen cases do not use long space. The only important comment of Chen cases in main media of Mainland-China is not only talking about Chen, but also talking about the relationships of China and the United States. The process of Chen Cases benefits the Mainland-China, so the media seem like smiling ladies, who do not like talking, but have their own decisions.

The Western media do not comment Chen Cases recently, but the media which support reunification of China, published many comments, more than 10, to express their opinions. The media in Taiwan make up of different parts, even including the newspaper which is set up by the vice president- Lv Xiu-lian. Ms. Lv is Chen’s former colleague. Sometimes, she is Chen’s closed friend, but sometimes, she is his enemy. In such a complex media environment, the comments of Taiwan media are all very interesting. Some media just focus on the details of each story, and some media just interview the famous current affairs commentators. They want to conceal their tongues, but it is not an easy thing.

As a reader, I have to collect different voices in order to judge the story by myself. As a PR practicer, I know every coin has two sides, so I have to pay attention to the dark one. In PR activities, not all of the media are friendly, so how to deal with the relationships with them is a big problem.

SAY HELLO TO AH-BIAN

It is very difficult to choose a suitable topic for my assignment. The life of any news is very limited, so I cannot estimate whether the topic I am interested in is tough enough to exist more than 10 weeks. I know some interesting topics, such as Wildlife Conservation, fashion and scandal, but none of them is an ideal choice. Finally, I choose him, a notorious politician, Chen Shui-bian. From the middle of November, 2008, Chen Shui-bian had begun to occupy the headline of many important media of China and other countries. Because of their different benefits and backgrand, various political muscle express categorically different opinions to the same news.
Chinese people have the traditional enthusiasm about politics, because Chinese society experienced huge change in the past 100 years. That situation is different from American society. If Chinese people do not want to participate in political activities, the news about Chen Shui-bian cannot be as interesting as today’s.
Chen was born to an impoverished tenant farming family in Kuantien Township of Tainan on the second day of the ninth lunar month in 1950 but was not formally issued a birth certificate until February 18, 1951 because of doubts that he would survive.
Academically bright from a young age he graduated from the prestigious National Tainan First Senior High School with honors. In June 1969, he was admitted to National Taiwan University. Initially a Business Administration major, he switched to Law in his first year and became editor of the school's law review. He passed the bar exams before the completion of his junior year with the highest score becoming Taiwan's youngest lawyer. He graduated in 1974 with a LL.B. in Commercial Law.
He has no political backgroud, but he is a successful politician. Chen, whose Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has traditionally been supportive of Taiwan independence, took office in 2000, ending more than fifty years of Kuomintang (KMT) rule in Taiwan.
After narrowly winning the Republic of China presidential election, 2004, Chen's second-term was marred by scandals. On November 3, 2006, his wife and three other high-ranking officials under the Presidential Office were charged with corruption for embezzling NTD 14.8 million (~US$ 460,000) of government funds using forged documents.
In January 2008, he resigned as chairman of the DPP, accepting responsibility for the party's defeat in the legislative election held the same year.
Chen's term as President ended in May 2008. Prosecutors then began to investigate allegations that Chen misused his discretionary "state affairs fund". They also investigated his connection to the first family's money-laundering allegations. He resigned from the Democratic Progressive Party on August 15, 2008, a day after admitting to falsifying campaign expenses and wiring campaign contributions to overseas accounts. After a lengthy procuratorial investigation into the corruption charges, on November 12, 2008 Chen was arrested. On December 12, 2008 he was indicted for forgery, money-laundering and misuse of public funds. He is the first ex-President of Taiwan to be indicted for criminal offenses. Chen Shui-bian was released without bail on 13 December 2008 after being indicted for money-laundering and misuse of public funds hours earlier. The district court ordered that Chen remain in Taiwan to face pending trial. On December the 16th 2008, prosecutors of the Special Counsel filed an appeal to reverse Chen's release and to resume his detention out of fear Chen may flee the country. On December the 25th of 2008, prosecutors of the same counsel appealed for the second time for continued detention of the former President. In this second appeal, the prosecution urged the Taiwan High Court to decide to detain or release Chen rather than remit the case to Judge Chou Chan-chun again. Reversing their initial decision not to appeal, Special Counsel prosecutors submitted their written appeal to the Taiwan high court, requesting that Chen be detained. The grounds for the detention remain the same (fear that the former President might leave the country, conspire with witnesses or destroy evidence). Ex-President Chen Shui-bian, on December 28, 2008, was ordered back to jail again. He has to stay in jail during the Chinese New Year.
Taiwan issue is hypersensitive for both China and US. The government of US, always supports Taiwan Independent. Chen Shui-bian advocates that all the time. As a Chinese, I cannot accept this position. But, I can understand why different political muscles have their own opinions. I do not think there is a standard to judge whether the opinion is right or not. A dog cannot enjoy the flavor of fish as a kitty. It is its nature. Since last week, I found 19 comments about Chen Shui-bian’s third jail life (20 years ago, he was in jail for the first time.)
Untill now, the comments about the imprisonment of Chen Shui-bian can be divided into five parts: Mainland of China, Bian’s supporters in Taiwan, Bian’s opponents in Taiwan, US and other countries.
General speaking, the voice of the Mainland of China and the opponents of Bian in Taiwan have the same position. But, they have different tones. Both of them argue against the government of Chen Shui-bian. The voice of Mainland of China is not as emotional as that of the opponents of Bian. The media of Mainland of China just publish several news articles about Chen Shui-bian; they do not comment any event or behavior at random. It is forbidden to do so, but it does not mean the media are just reportors. They always select the negative news in order to express their opinions.
On the other hand, the voice of the opponents of Bian seems very open, because they never conceal their opponian. They focus on any detail of the life of the ex-President and his family members. The political critics attack the scandals of Chen Shui-bian. The most interesting thing is they discover many crazy behaviors of the supporters of Bian, such as fortune-telling by Tarot for Chen Shui-bian. From their viewpoints, Chen Shui-bian and his supporters are all foolish buffons.
On contrast, the supporters of Chen Shui-bian in Taiwan and the media in US share their opinions. Chen Shui-bian is the first ex-President of Taiwan to be indicted for criminal offenses. Whether the judicial process is legal? Whether the human rights are trampled on? They do not respond to the scandals or the crazy behaviors of these supporters, but focus on the other side of the coin. They are clever and diplomatic, because the crime of Chen Shui-bian is difficult to dispute. They transfer the public attention to another part of the whole thing. For example, one of the American media compared Ma Ying-jiu, the current President of Taiwan with Nixon. The overtone is very obvious.
The attitude of the media of other countries is not clear, because I cannot read other languages. But, untill now, I have read the comment from German. In this article, the critic seemd relaxed to treat this news. I think it is reasonable, because Chinese people can deal with our own problems.