"The way a government treats its media critics is the true test of whether it truly supports a free press. By that standard, Taiwan is failing," said Lai, the chairman of Next Media Group, in the Asian Wall Street Journal.

He said the government under President Ma Ying-jeou, in power since May 2008, had undertaken several initiatives to rein in the island's once-vibrant media.

The government has turned down applications by Next Media for a cable TV licence, and stepped up "embedded marketing... the practice by which the government pays for propaganda articles to appear as news reports," he said.

"Viewed in isolation, each of these developments might be written off as misguided, if well-intentioned, efforts," Lai said.

"Taken as a whole, however, they look more like a programme to increase government control over the media."

In the 2010 edition of the Freedom of the Press survey published by Washington-based NGO Freedom House, Taiwan shared the 47th spot with countries such as Poland and Spain. It had slipped from 43rd place in the 2009 survey.

China was ranked as number 181 out of 196 countries surveyed in the 2010 Freedom House report.

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