The number of complaints Taiwanese lodged against the media in the first half of this year increased by more than 50 percent from the same period last year, a report released by the National Communications Commission (NCC) showed yesterday.
The NCC said it received 2,016 complaints of improper media content in the first six months, up 52.6 percent from last year. Most of the complaints were about content that was deemed untrue or unfair, the report said.
Some of the people complaining said certain television, Internet and radio content was harmful to the physical and mental well-being of children and teenagers, while others said some TV and radio programs failed to distinguish between news or programming and commercials.
Most of the complaints — 75.2 percent of the total — involved TV content, 22.2 percent Internet content and 2.5 percent involved content aired on radio stations.
The number of complaints about TV programming nearly doubled from the same period last year, while complaints about Internet content nearly quadrupled. Radio content complaints remained about the same.
NCC Communications Content Department Director Jason Ho (何吉森) attributed the increase in the number of complaints to the commission’s promotion of its public complaint channels or windows, encouraging people to air their grievances. More people are aware there is a way to voice their displeasure if they see or hear inappropriate material, adding that one person had filed more than 200 complaints during the six-month period.
The NCC said that in the first six months of this year, it handled 126 television broadcasting and satellite broadcasting violations by television operators. Following its investigations, it handed down fines totaling NT$30.88 million (US$1 million), a 37 percent increase from the fines imposed during the first half of last year.
The NCC is the top authority in Taiwan that is responsible for regulating the development of the communications and information industry, promoting competition, ensuring consumer protection, as well as handling licensing, radio frequency and spectrum allocation, broadcasting, content regulation, communications standards and specifications.
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