Lien was accused of eavesdrop on Ko’s office

On 5 November 2014, Ko’s political election team leader, Lie Ming Yao, while being interviewed by the media, clarified that the team leader of Lien’s political election

0   200   400   600   800   1000   1200   1400   1600  

amount  of  comments  

NWOM   PWOM  

team, Zheng Yuan Tsai, had published the schedule and meeting results and stated that they believed that Lien’s members had eavesdropped on their meeting. Two wiretaps were found in the office. Lie Ming Yao also noted they had reported the incident to the police, and the police began to conduct a comprehensive investigation (Wang, W. S., 2014). Because eavesdropping is not only illegal but also reflects poorly on a political party’s ethics, Lien’s political election team was criticized severely.

l On 11/5, Lien political election team leader, Zheng Yuan, Tsai, interviewed by the media clarified that the information was came from the Ko’s blabbermouth member, Jing Sen, Zhang, and emphasized that if he had eavesdropped on Ko’s office he will bow out from politics. Zheng Yuan, Tsai also suspected that Ko’s office pretended that they are victim but actually did not be wiretapped, therefore he asked Ko’s team provide the wiretappings they found as soon as possible (Wu, Y. C. & Chen, L. G., 2014).

s The information was came from the Ko’s blabbermouth member à Denial:

Shifting the blame

s Emphasized that if he had eavesdropped on Ko’s office he will bow out from politics àDenial: Fully deny

s Suspected that Ko’s office pretended that they are victimà Reduce offensiveness: Attack accusers

l On 11/5 Lien interviewed by the media mentioned that Ko cheated public to harm his image, therefore he asked Ko should quit the political election if they did not be wiretapped (Liberty Times, 2014).

s Ko cheated public to harm his image à Reduce offensiveness: Attack accusers

l On 11/6, police confirmed that the phone in Ko’s office had been wiretapped (Chou, J. F.et al, 2014).

l On 11/24, Zheng Yuan Tsai sued Ko’s political election team members for they falsified the evidence, and intended to hurt Lien’s image (SET, 2014).

s Sued Ko’s political election team members à Reduce offensiveness:

Attack accusers

l On 11/25, Lien interviewed by the media mentioned that Ko’s accuse is a classical political election deception (Chen, U. R., 2014).

s Ko’s accuse is a classical political election deceptionà Reduce offensiveness: Attack accusers

l On 11/26, police clear up the case and found out a man hired by Ko’s office to check whether they being eavesdropped installed the wiretapping secretly. The offender admitted he done it for the greed, he thought if Ko’s office realized they be eavesdropped then they will buy the monitor from him (Ling, Y. F. & Wu, Y.

S., 2014).

l On 11/26, Lien said after the police investigation, the truth was they did not eavesdrop to Ko. Therefore he asked Ko should apologize to them (Rou, W. C., 2014).

s Lien asked Ko should apologize to themà Reduce offensiveness: Attack accusers

Table 4.3.2-1. Response strategy of eavesdrop online firestorm

Time Image restoration discourse Sponsor

11/5 s Denial: Shifting the blame s Denial: Fully deny

s Reduce offensiveness: Attack accusers

Zheng Yuan Tsai

11/5 s Reduce offensiveness: Attack accusers Lien

11/24 s Reduce offensiveness: Attack accusers Zheng-Yuan Tsai 11/25 s Reduce offensiveness: Attack accusers Lien

11/26 s Reduce offensiveness: Attack accusers Lien

In this case, this study uses “Sheng-Wen Lien” as the keyword to collect data and do the analysis.

Figure 13. The response time and NWOM pattern of eavesdrop online firestorm Data source: Opview insight software data

Opview Insight data : A= (1593+1382+2749+3338+2875)/5=2387.4

Table 4.3.2-2. NWOM amounts of eavesdrop online firestorm

Date 11/5 11/6 11/7 11/8 11/9 11/10 11/11 11/12 NWOM

amounts

1593 1382 2749 3338 2875 3510 3746 4155

Date 11/13 11/14 11/15 11/16 11/17 11/18 11/19 11/20 NWOM

amounts

3184 3207 2898 3712 6358 4416 4115 3567

Date 11/21 11/22 11/23 11/24 11/25 11/26 11/27 11/28 NWOM

amounts

3625 3430 3903 3615 4025 4424 4236 3822

Date 11/29 NWOM

amounts

2572

Data source: Opview insight software data

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amount  of  comments  

NWOM   PWOM  

Table 4.3.2-3. Boiling period and explode period of eavesdrop online firestorm

Figure 14. The explode period of eavesdrop online firestorm

Table 4.3.2-4. Online firestorm characteristic of eavesdrop online firestorm Online firestorm Target s Lien’s image: People suspected Lien’s character.

Cause s Counterforce slander: Lien slandered by Ko’s political election team, accusing Lien’s members had eavesdropped on their meeting.

Consumer Reaction

s Damage: criticized Lien was a candidate without ethics.

s Malicious abuse: criticized Lien with malicious and irrational words.

Initiatives s Launched by registered and unregistered voters s Launched by competitor

Effects s People refuse to support s People would vote for others

s Some supporters remain (PWOM line in figure 13)

0   1000   2000   3000   4000   5000   6000   7000  

amount  of  comments  

NWOM   PWOM  

Period Boiling period Explode period

Days 2 day 22 days

4.3.3. Case analysis

This part is discussing the counterforce slander: Ko was accused of illegal human organs trading and Lien was accused of eavesdropping from Ko’s political election team. Though both Ko and Lien did not do the offensive behavior, but at the beginning of the event, people are all waiting for their explanation. Therefore the response is really important to help people decide to believe it or not.

Table 4.3.3. Counterforce slander cases analysis People Image restoration discourse Boiling

period s Denial: Shifting the blame s Reduce offensiveness:

Attack accusers

0 day 2 days 0 day and 2 days after the event.

Lien s Reduce offensiveness:

Attack accusers

(1) The background of the cases

Ko was a doctor worked in national Taiwan hospital before, and he also was a leader of organ transplant team. Ethan Gutmann is not only a reporter but also a China export, he investing on organ trafficking for a lone time, the purpose of his book is hope everyone pay attention on the illegal organ trading problem. He met many people to collect the evidence and resources, therefore he had the interview with Ko.

Due to the polling day is launched on 11/29, the news appealed lots of attention and people all eager to know the truth. Ko’s team continuously emphasized they are innocent and published a series of proclamations to answer the question from public (ETtoday, 2014). Furthermore, Ko’s team constantly implied that Lien’s team is connected to the events to effect public impressions.

(2) The analysis of responding strategy

Ko replied the issue immediately on the day he accused of trafficking in human organs, he used “shifting the blame” strategy to claim that Ethan Gutmann made a mistake and he should check the interview record again. In addition, he also answered some question that people suspected, like his job in hospital and use “fully deny”

strategy to oppose that he did any illegal organ transplant. On the next day, a legislator from opposition party attacked Ko was a liar, he did not said the truth about the events. The NWOM comments achieve the peak on this day, but faded down tomorrow soon. On the third day, Ethan Gutmann replied that misunderstood was caused by different understanding of English, Ko was innocent. Therefore the online firestorm faded and it only exploded for two days. On this day Ko attacked the author was over boast, and this is first time he attack the accuser after the event happened.

This study considered that Ko replied to the events immediately and clearly make people trust him. Furthermore, Ethan Gutmann replied the issue speedy and help to prove Ko’s innocent, therefore people would not believe the accusing.

Lien and Zheng Yuan, Tsai replied to the accusing on the first day when they accused by Lie Ming, Yao. Zheng Yuan, Tsai used “shifting the blame” and “fully deny” to evade the offensive and sneer at Ko had a blabbermouth member. Furthermore, he suspected that Ko’s office pretended that they are victim. In addition, Lien also used

“attack accuser” strategy to ask Ko quit the political election if they did not be wiretapped. As the police investigated on the case for several days, and Ko constantly claimed they were innocent, people are more interested in the issue and suspected Lien. On 11/24, Zheng Yuan, Tsai used “attack accusers” strategy to sue Ko for malicious slander to Lien. On the next day, Lien continuously attacked Ko. Finally, the police cleared up the case on 11/26, both Lien and Ko were innocent. Lien attacked Ko again and asked he to apologize. Comparing to the Ko’s case, both they use the “fully deny” and “shifting the blame” strategies, but Lien use more “attack accusers” strategies than Ko, they use it for five times. This study considered that instead of accusing competitors, Lien should be more focus on expressing their innocent and try to give some evidence to public. The more Lien accusing Ko, people would be more focus on the event and hurt himself.