When polling stations closed at 4pm on March 20, millions of anxious voters turned on their televisions and waited for the final results of the so-called "exit poll." TVBS failed to keep its promise of announcing its results at 4:01pm. Nevertheless, the media did not let viewers down.
At 4:30pm, more than 6 million ballots had been counted according to one local TV station, while others roused themselves to catch up.
Ten minutes later, the total number of counted ballots exceeded 8 million. The pan-blue camp took a lead according to most stations except FTV. Some seemed nervous while others seemed increasingly happy.
You would see a different picture if you had been watching PTS -- Public Television Service -- from the beginning. Citing numbers given by the campaign headquarters of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
PTS also simultaneously displayed the most authoritative numbers of counted votes announced by the Central Election Commission (CEC).
Although the commission's ballot counting was slow, it showed the tendency that Chen and Lu held a lead from very early on. However, all commercial stations had already speeded up counting to over 6 million votes for each camp, with Lien and Soong in the lead all the way. So what should they do? As a result, at the magical moment -- around a few minutes after 6pm -- they all began to report a Chen-Lu counterattack from the critical situation as the pan-green ticket suddenly took the lead. All the audience was stunned! How could the election situation have been reversed like this?
In fact, at 4:43pm, the station that speeded up the counted ballot numbers the most at one point had Lien and Soong with 7.32 million votes -- 2 million more than Chen and Lu. Although the number was quickly corrected later, that magical moment won the highest ratings of the night.
Moreover, TVBS, which held the very first nationwide exit poll for the election, finally announced the poll results around 5:30pm, giving Lien and Soong a 6 percent lead.
After the announcement, the station immediately expanded the lead of the Lien-Soong ticket even further.
I have heard that these stations have practiced this skill of exaggerating counted ballot numbers for years. They usually exaggerate the numbers of counted ballots at will in the early counting period, gradually changing the numbers to the real figures when the CEC's numbers catch up with theirs later.
The public would certainly like to forget these "miracles" if everything returns to normal after the election. We have been fooled by the media during past elections so many times anyway. But this time, some pan-blue legislators even cited the exit poll results as evidence of "vote-rigging."
Being misled by the media during the vote-counting process, the pan-blue supporters also refused to accept the final result and staged a protest. These stations' dirty "money game" has affected social stability after the election.
Shouldn't we ask them: who gave you the right to do so? When the entire society was being torn apart, we do have the right to demand an explanation from these stations.
Sylvia Feng is a television journalist.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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