VZCZCXRO5672
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHIN #0093/01 0180642
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 180642Z JAN 08
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7946
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 7758
RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE 7208
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 9018
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 6311
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0884
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 1700
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 2341

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 000093 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/R/MR, EAP/TC, EAP/P, EAP/PD - NIDA EMMONS 
 
DEPARTMENT PASS AIT/WASHINGTON 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO PREL SCUL TW
SUBJECT: MONEY TALKS - TAIWAN "BLUE" AND "GREEN" MEDIA RUN EACH 
OTHER'S ADS 
 
REF: TAIPEI 0058, TAIPEI 0061, TAIPEI 0063, TAIPEI 0065, 
      TAIPEI 0075 
 
¶1. Summary:  (SBU) Taiwan's ever-developing democracy is proving 
lucrative as the media cash in on the elections.  Political parties 
spent heavily on television commercials and campaign advertisements 
in the run-up to the January 12 legislative election.  Despite their 
political bias in day-to-day news coverage, when it comes to 
business, Taiwan media ran all the campaign ads they could get and 
even offered special packages to try to attract more campaign ads 
from political parties.  A review of election ads for the final 
three campaign days revealed that major parties placed most of their 
campaign ads in the media outlets they believed would attract the 
most voters, including those that normally portray them unfavorably. 
 This campaign ad strategy is further evidence of how far down the 
multi-party democracy road Taiwan has traveled.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Though the accusation that most Taiwan media slant "blue" 
(pro KMT) or "green" (pro DPP) is often borne out in their one-sided 
news reports, editorials and talk shows, the placement of campaign 
ads leading up to January 12 Legislative Yuan (LY) elections showed 
that media from both sides gladly accepted money to run the other 
side's ads.  The KMT, the DPP and a host of smaller parties were 
willing to take their chances in running ads in media not 
customarily supportive of their parties.  It is yet another 
milestone in Taiwan's development as a democracy. 
 
¶3.  (U) In the three days leading up to the Jan. 12 LY election, the 
KMT placed more campaign commercials on TV than the DPP. However, 
the DPP government also ran many TV and newspaper ads in the name of 
the Government Information Office (GIO) and the Central Election 
Commission (CEC) to promote (DPP) government achievements and to 
boost turnout for (DPP-sponsored) referenda. 
 
--------------------------- 
TV:  BLUE ON GREEN; GREEN ON BLUE 
--------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U)  A representative sample of TV ads:  From 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 
p.m. on Jan. 9, the KMT ran campaign ads soliciting party votes 31 
times on four TV news channels, while the DPP ran ads 23 times.  The 
GIO and the CEC ran TV ads 12 times. 
 
¶5.  (U) Interestingly, during this time period, the KMT ran more 
campaign ads (nine) than the DPP (four) on "green" Sanlih TV.  The 
reverse was equally interesting: the DPP ran eight ads to the KMT's 
six on "blue" CTI TV in the same time period. 
 
¶6.  (U) The parties took different tacks in their ads.  The KMT's TV 
campaign ads featured anguished voices from various walks of life, 
especially from working class voters.  They roundly criticized 
President Chen Shui-bian and his family, and the government's poor 
economic performance, urging voters to use their ballots to punish 
the DPP.  The KMT also heavily ran one ad in which KMT Chairman Wu 
Po-hsiung reminded blue supporters of the KMT's failure in the last 
election and the importance of solidarity. 
 
¶7.  (U) The DPP's campaign ads appealed to that party's historical 
contribution to Taiwan's democracy, condemning the KMT for 
obstreperousness in the LY and impugning the party for its 
"ill-gotten" assets. 
 
¶8.  (U) The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), once considered part of 
the green camp, expressed the party's concern for minority groups 
and stressed the importance of having a third force in addition to 
the KMT and the DPP.  TSU ads featured its leader, former President 
Lee Teng-hui, denouncing the DPP, despite the erstwhile DPP-TSU 
alliance.  During the sample period AIT monitored, the TSU ran TV 
ads 20 times, canvassing party votes.  Their advertising efforts 
appeared in vain - the party failed to pick up a single seat in the 
LY. 
 
------------------------- 
PRINT PRESS:  APPLE "WINS" IN THE ELECTION 
------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (U) In the print press, the Apple Daily (circulation 500,000, 
second-largest in Taiwan) received the most campaign ads among the 
 
TAIPEI 00000093  002 OF 002 
 
 
four major island-wide Chinese-language dailies, thanks to the 
tabloid's neutral political position and its strong appeal to young 
readers, a major swing constituency with a spotty voting record. 
One creatively placed ad in the Jan. 10 edition showed an irate Ma 
Ying-jeou accusing President Chen of poor leadership.  This 
full-page page 3 ad faced a full-page page 2 exclusive interview 
with President Chen. 
 
¶10.  (U) The pro-independence, "green" Liberty Times (circulation 
720,000), though Taiwan's top-circulation newspaper, attracted fewer 
campaign ads than Apple Daily, and the KMT ran only one token 
advertisement in it during the three days before the elections. 
 
¶11.  (U) The two "blue" newspapers - United Daily News and China 
Times - carried more ads for the KMT than for other parties, but DPP 
candidates still purchased ads in significant numbers in these two 
publications. 
 
¶12.  (U) Meanwhile, smaller parties such as the New Party, the Home 
Party, the Constitutional Alliance, Third Society Party and Taiwan 
Farmers' Party, all ran TV campaign ads on major TV channels and 
newspapers, including CTI, TVBS, SET, Apple Daily, United Daily 
News, China Times and Liberty Times, hoping to capture 
legislator-at-large seats.  Their advertising efforts were all in 
vain.  The Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (not even technically a 
party) was the only small political organization to run ads and 
actually win seats (three). 
 
------------------------------ 
KMT SPENDS BIG; WINS BIG 
------------------------------ 
 
¶13.  (U) Both the KMT and the DPP accused each other of excessive 
spending on campaign ads while refusing to disclose their own 
budgets to the public.  "Economic Daily News" reported on January 6 
that the DPP would spend a total of NT 60 million ($1.82 million) in 
campaign ads in the course of the 2008 LY and presidential 
elections.  Other news reports quoted a KMT spokesman as saying the 
KMT's budget for campaign ads totaled about NT 10 million ($300,000) 
for the legislative election.  Singapore's "Lianhe Zaobao" estimated 
the two parties combined spent at least NT 100 million ($3 million) 
on advertisements during the legislative elections. 
 
¶14.  (SBU) Political party campaign ads paid off most handsomely for 
the KMT, which scored a landslide victory (reftels).  KMT 
spokeswoman Chen Shu-rong told AIT/PAS that the KMT placed campaign 
ads in all media, both blue and green, "to get support from as many 
voters as possible."  Whether the media were blue or green "were not 
issues."  The KMT spent a considerable amount of money on 
commercials on "green" TV stations, she explained, in order to 
attract swing voters.  Chen said the KMT's campaign ads (read: 
income from ads) were welcomed by TV stations and, even more, by 
Taiwan's chronically impecunious newspapers.  Chen acknowledged that 
the KMT paid three TV stations -- TVBS, CTI and China Television 
(CTV) -- to broadcast three KMT rallies live. 
 
¶15.  (SBU) Meanwhile, Hsieh I-chun, Deputy Director of DPP's Culture 
and Information Department, told AIT/PAS the KMT's TV ads greatly 
outnumbered the DPP's because the DPP is underfinanced.  He said 
that the DPP placed TV campaign ads on all major TV channels while 
concentrating on specific channels to run ads intensively on the 
final day.  TV stations also offered "discount packages" to 
political parties, but Hsieh refused to reveal the price of running 
a TV campaign ad. 
 
¶16.  (U) AIT monitored the following media, Jan. 9-11, for this 
report.  Their customary news biases are in parentheses: 
 
TVBS -- popular cable news channel (Blue) 
CTI Television -- pro-KMT cable news channel (Blue) 
Sanlih Television -- popular pro-Taiwan news channel (Green) 
Formosa Television -- pro-DPP news channel (Green) 
Liberty Times -- pro-independence daily (Green) 
Apple Daily -- popular tabloid-style daily (Neutral) 
United Daily News -- pro-unification daily (Blue) 
China Times -- pro-KMT daily (Blue) 
 
YOUNG