Pulp Politics
You might call it an ink insurgency. As Taiwan’s so-called “Great Recall” (大罷免) movement, a wave of campaigns to remove newly elected legislators through citizen petitions, has taken the country by storm, creative print media initiatives have emerged to reach voters in traditional strongholds for the Kuomintang (國民黨) party, whose members tend to be older and more politically conservative — and much less digital savvy — than their counterparts in the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). According to a fascinating report by the watchdog organization Watchout (沃草), these print strategies aim to connect with digitally-disconnected constituencies as campaigners face a 60-day window to gather a sufficient number of signatures to push recall actions.
Media veterans in Taipei’s Da’an district have launched “Four Able News” (四能報), a biweekly publication promoting the recall of KMT legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強), while activists in Xizhi, an inner city district in eastern New Taipei City, have created “Shrimp News” (蝦報) to campaign against KMT legislator Liao Hsien-hsiang (廖先翔), referencing his “shrimp diplomacy” controversy (He proposed resuming cut-off diplomatic relations with Honduras back in January as shrimp exports to the country from Taiwan dropped sharply). In Hualien, DPP-aligned recall campaigners have placed advertisements in the traditionally pro-KMT Update Daily (更生日報), featuring painter Chen Cheng-po’s (陳澄波) artwork to appeal to local sentiment.
These diverse print campaigns share a common strategy: bypassing digital barriers to reach older, more conservative voters. In north Songshan district, recall groups have even leveraged imagery of former KMT dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), the architect of the country’s White Terror, to connect with traditional KMT supporters, demonstrating how the movement is adapting traditional media for modern political activism.
