Taipei, Taiwan , 17 October 2007

An Open Letter to IFJ & RWB

For the past 13 years since Taiwan's Environmental Impact Assessment Law (EIAL) was enacted, journalists have always been allowed to hear environmental assessment committee (EAC) meetings that decides the fate of large-scale development projects that may have an impact on the environment.

However, on 10 August 2007, I was refused by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to enter the EAC meeting venue to hear the meeting on the ground interior regulations would be discussed. In addition, I was violently treated and expelled from the venue by EPA's ethics office personnel.

Such act, I believe, was a breach the freedom of press.

On the occasion of the second EAC meeting on 17 September, journalists were directed into a side room separated from the meeting with a heavy piece of glass, and two layers of curtains. As I attempted to move into the meeting room, police officers closed the meeting room doors on my hand and leg. The EPA eventually agreed to raise the curtain after protest actions by journalists.

After the incidents, the Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ)—a member of the International Federation of Journalists—filed two letters of protest to the EPA, requesting it to respect the principle of government information transparency and the freedom of speech. The EPA did not respond to the letters but informed the ATJ and the Liberty Times—my employer—that I was no longer allowed to gather news at the EPA. In addition, the government body also requested the Liberty Times to apply penalize my acts.

 It was rather ironic that the EPA specifically rejects my right to gather news at the agency as Taiwan calls itself a democracy and that the current EPA Minister Winston Dang had been on the blacklist for decades and lived in exile in the US for his struggle to democracy during the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) authoritarian rule.

Despite the ATJ's protest, I have become the first journalist to have been rejected entry into a government office for reporting news on public policies twenty years after martial law rule was lifted in Taiwan.

On 25, September, Liberty Times—my employer told me on the phone, they transferred my position from reporter to another, inside the office without asking me and investigation.  I was immediately rejected and write a letter to Liberty Times. But they still keep silent and didn’t do anything. I went to Department of Labor of Taipei city(台北市勞工局) apply for the adjustment of labor and capital issue on  and told Liberty Times on 8, October.  Regrettably, I lost my job on the other day, 9, October.

In order to express my deepest protest to the EPA's act of breaching the freedom of press and to guard such freedom, I would like to call the attention of both the International Federation of Journalists and the Reporters sans Frontières to these incidents.  

This morning, I saw the news announced by RWB on 16, October. The Newsletter mentioned about that the freedom of press in Taiwan makes progress from 43 to 32 in the 169 countries this year. Did the freedom of press really make great strides in Taiwan？ I am still waiting for the adjustment and thinking about the question. 

My sincere gratitude to your time and attention, and my most distinguished greetings.

Carol CHOU(周富美)

Member of Standing Executive Committee of Association of Taiwan Journalists(ATJ)

致國際記者聯盟(IFJ) 與無疆界記者組織(RWB)的公開信

                                                                             17, 10. 2007

  台灣實施環境影響評估法十三年來，討論是否可通過許多與環境攸關的重大工程開發案，記者向來可以入內旁聽，我於我於2007年8月 10日，至環保署列席環評大會，卻遭到環保署以討論內規為由拒絕，並遭到環保署政風室施以暴力拉扯逐出場外，環保署黑箱作業，嚴重戕害新聞採訪自由。

  2007 年9月17日，我再度進入環保署參加第二次環評大會，但環保署卻將與會者與媒體趕至旁聽室，與會議室中間有一層厚玻璃，以及內、外兩層簾幕重重阻隔，無法看見會議內容，我欲進入會場旁聽 ，卻遭警衛夾住手腳不准進入，經抗議後，環保署事後才願意拉開簾幕，讓記者回到旁聽室繼續聆聽環評大會。

  經歷兩次環評大會記者旁聽遭拒之後，台灣新聞記者協會(ATJ)曾兩次發函，抗議環保署未落實民主國家資訊公開，以及採訪自由之精神，但環保署卻變本加厲，去函我工作的自由時報以及我加入的記協ATJ，告知不准我再進入環保署採訪，並要求自由時報對我做出處分。

  台灣是個民主國家，但身為政府公家機關的環保署，環保署長陳重信早在戒嚴時代，被台灣列入黑名單，流亡美國數十年，返台就任環保署長後，卻實施環保戒嚴，並無視於台灣新聞記者協會之聲明與訴求，個別點名我不准進入採訪，成為台灣解嚴後20年後，首度被個人指名不准進入公家機關採訪公共政策的記者，嚴重剝奪新聞採訪自由，戕害台灣民主甚鉅。

  九月二十五日，在沒有詢問個人意見與調查的情況下，我接到自由時報社方以電話口頭告知，即日起由記者工作轉調內勤，本人當場予以拒絕並寫申訴函給社方，但均未獲回應。我於10月8日告知社方已至台北市勞工局申請勞資爭議調解，遺憾的是，隔天10月9日即失去工作。

   台灣新聞記者協會(ATJ)也是IFJ的正式會員，但是政府公家機關環保署黑箱作業，拒絕資訊公開並戕害新聞採訪自由，並對記協發出的抗議聲明視若無睹，令人深感痛心，為維護新聞採訪自由，特向  國際記者聯盟與無國界記者組織發出公開信。

  今日早晨，我看到無疆界記者組織於10月16日發出的新聞稿中提及，在全球169個國家當中，台灣的新聞自由排名從去年的43名提升為今年的32名，台灣的新聞自由真的進步了嗎？我還在等待勞資爭議調解並持續思考此問題。敬請國際媒體組織關注並正視此事！萬分感謝。 

                                                                                                        台灣新聞記者協會常委  周富美  敬啟