The National Communications Commission (NCC) has been criticized for failing to block false news reports, but the accusations often confuse “fake news” with inaccurate, unproven or biased news presented by mainstream news media. Proponents of every political stripe have been protesting what they claim is government intervention into freedom of the press.
“Fake news” must be defined to clarify its effects on society and public safety, and to determine whether the NCC should take some responsibility for its production and dissemination.
“Fake news” is false information intentionally created in the form of a news report to gain some political or economic benefit by misleading the public. It is fundamentally false information, rather than news.
The news produced by the mainstream media passes through routine production and control processes that are likely to miss mistakes, lack fact-checking or include a bias that results in subjectively wrong news, but this is not the typical source of “fake news.”
The most common connection between mainstream news organizations and fake news is the use of online information from unknown sources, which makes established news organizations secondhand transmitters of false information. Its authors are typically unknown and intentionally fabricate information to serve a political or social agenda.
It would be best to refer to “fake news” as “false information,” or simply to abandon the phrase altogether to avoid conflating it with reports from mainstream media outlets.
Since the publishing act was abolished, no law has regulated wrong, biased or groundless reports in mainstream media.
Satellite news channels can be penalized by the NCC based on complaints from the public in accordance with Article 27 of the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法), which stipulates that reports should “not violate the principle of fact verification and cause damage on public interest.”
However, a conviction requires there to be evidence that the media organization failed to verify the report and that its failure hurt the public interest. The process is overseen by the Advisory Meeting for Radio and Television Programs and Commercials and the NCC. The composition of these organizations reflects the opinions and values of a diverse society. Achieving a consensus is difficult, which probably explains why convictions are so rare. If the public thinks that these regulations are insufficient and ineffective, perhaps the law should be amended.
Should the NCC be responsible for blocking false information? The answer is undoubtedly yes, as responding to “fake news” has always required all government agencies and sectors of society to pitch in. For example, the Ministry of Education should improve digital media literacy to raise awareness and help people not get taken in by false information.
The NCC, given its responsibilities and resources, should establish regulations that help safeguard the integrity of online news platforms, take disciplinary action when necessary, develop preventive technologies, draft laws to effectively eliminate the spread of false information and invest in improving the quality of news production. These actions would go a long way to help the NCC fulfill its responsibilities and face the challenges presented by this era of false information.
Wang Wei-ching is professor and chairman of the Graduate Institute of Mass Communication at National Taiwan Normal University.
Translated by Chang Ho-ming
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