(IFJ/IFEX) - The following is an IFJ media release:

Call for Taiwan Police to Stop Pressuring Media for Protest Information

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) urges Taiwan's National
Police Agency (NPA) to stop asking media personnel for information about
protesters at a recent public demonstration.

According to the Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ), an IFJ affiliate,
members of the Taiwan police have reportedly asked media workers to provide
photographs of demonstrators who participated in the "Yellow Ribbon Siege"
protest against a meeting between Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou and
chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS)
Chen Yunlin on November 16. The protest was reportedly organised by the
Democratic Progressive Political Party.

The ATJ said there were concerns that police would seek to pressure
photojournalists who refused the request for information by approaching
their employers.

"The police have put the reporters in grave danger by demanding that they
rat on their interviewees," ATJ president Leon Chuang said.

On November 18, Leon Chuang and several reporters requested a meeting with
NPA Director-General Wang Cho-chun to resolve the issue, but the request
was declined.

"The duty of a journalist is to report the truth and to protect his or her
sources. Journalists must not be compelled to act as agents to collect
information on behalf of government authorities. Police interference of
this kind places freedom of the independent press in jeopardy," IFJ
Asia-Pacific said.

"The IFJ urges Taiwan's authorities to respect press freedom and ensure
that they do not compromise journalists' integrity. All media outlets are
also urged to defend press freedom and refrain from handing over
photographs."

Increasing police pressure on Taiwan's media has been reported since early
November. An independent documentary film-maker was detained by police
while she was filming Chen in a hotel on November 4. In a separate
incident, a television reporter was assaulted by police who reportedly
mistook him for a protester during the November 16 rally.

The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 120 countries worldwide.

For further information on the detention of the documentary filmmaker, see:
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/98158