By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
An encounter between members of the Taiwanese press corps and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) volunteers in Los Angeles on Monday has prompted discussion online, with both sides accusing the other of resorting violence.
A number of Taiwanese reporters said they were assaulted by DPP volunteers at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, where more than 3,000 overseas Taiwanese rallied to support DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) presidential campaign.
Chinese-language media reported that dozens of volunteers and US security guards, who were called on to protect Tsai during the rally, grabbed and dragged away reporters when they were trying to get comments from Tsai. Some claimed they had been hit during the melee that ensued, while one reporter was quoted by the Chinese-language China Times as shouting at a DPP staff member: “Is this how you treat Taiwanese? Is the DPP a party of violence?”
DPP Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) and spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) immediately apologized to the delegation of about 20 Taiwanese reporters.
However, a blog posted by someone with the alias “TaiDuMei,” who identified herself as one of the volunteers at the event, provided a different account of the incident, saying Taiwanese television cameramen and reporters were the ones trying to force their way into the security circle.
One reporter grabbed a volunteer’s hands while others shouted at staff and demanded an apology, the blogger wrote, accusing the Taiwanese reporters of starting the confrontation.
A story published by the Los Angeles-based Chinese-language Taiwan Daily the following day described Taiwanese journalists as pampered and spoiled.
It also wrote that the incident stemmed from “different media cultures in Taiwan and the US” whereby reporters are used to getting up close and personal with politicians in Taiwan, but are usually kept at some distance from public figures in the US.
DPP western US headquarters director Jerome Cheng (鄭錫?) was quoted by the Central News Agency as saying the incident was unfortuante.
Cheng estimated that Tsai was surrounded by at least 100 people at the time, including volunteers, supporters and more than 30 reporters, making a scuffle almost inevitable as everyone tried to get close to the presidential candidate to ask her questions and take photographs.