Organizers of an anti-media monopoly protest yesterday visited major political parties and received positive responses to their advocacy and their call for legislation to regulate media company’s market shares.
Journalists, journalism professors and associations, students and NGOs gave letters to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and the People First Party (PFP) asking for their support at a protest scheduled for tomorrow in Taipei.
The demonstration, which was sparked by the conditional approval of a NT$76 billion (US$2.54 billion) deal allowing the Want Want China Times Group (旺旺中時集團) to acquire some of the cable TV services owned by China Network Systems (CNS, 中嘉網路), was organized to fight media monopolies. It also calls for respecting professional journalism standards and stricter monitoring of media operations by the National Communications Commission (NCC).
Photo: CNA
“We are pleased by the positive responses from the parties and their pledge to initiate legislation on an anti-media monopoly act,” Association of Taiwan Journalists president Chen Hsiao-yi (陳曉宜) said.
Also among the delegation were Chang Chin-hua (張錦華) and Hung Chen-ling (洪貞玲), both journalism professors at National Taiwan University, student representative Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and Citizen Watch on Media Reform secretary-general Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華).
The delegation received a warm reception from the DPP, which sent eight party officials, including DPP Secretary-General Lin Hsi-yao (林錫耀) and caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), to the 60-minute meeting.
The DPP supports the group’s appeals and legislative proposal because they are consistent with the party’s positions, Lin said.
The issue of media development has always been high on the DPP’s priorities, Lin said, adding that the deal could jeopardize freedom of speech because the Want Want-CNS group would affect about one-quarter of households with a TV nationwide.
Ker said the DPP’s insistence on NCC canceling its conditional approval of the Want Want deal due to its flawed process.
“We insist that the deal has to be reviewed again,” Ker said.
He said anti-media monopoly legislation would have to win the support of the KMT, which has a majority in the legislature.
The DPP has called for people to participate in the protest with a radio advertisement by DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
TSU Secretary-General Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉) told the delegation that the party would support the protest and the proposed legislation, adding that his party insisted the deal must be voided.
KMT Culture and Communication Committee Director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said in his meeting with the representative that his party “respects the appeals” and that he would convey the message to his superiors, though he did not pledge to support the proposed legislation.
PFP Deputy Secretary-General Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) said the party supported the ideas behind the protest, but did not pledge to support the proposed law.
The PFP supported media reform because PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) had been the victim of unfair news reporting and media bias during January’s presidential election campaign, Liu said.
Meanwhile, NCC Chairperson Howard Shyr (石世豪) said during his meeting with DPP legislators that the commission had issued a ruling on the CNS bid, adding that the commission could only hold another review after the group submits a new application.
Under the conditional approval, Want Want China Times Group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) and his son must completely dissociate themselves from the management of CtiTV news, while China Television’s news channel must be changed into a non-news channel and have an independent editorial system.
The lawmakers said the commission should put the matter on the agenda of its weekly meeting next week. In response, Shyr said that the commission had already set the weekly agenda.
Shyr’s reply enraged DPP legislators Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) and Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲), who left before the meeting ended.
Even if Want Want submits a new application, Shyr said that the commission would first consider if there were anything different in the application before reviewing the case. Shyr said the commission would examine all the conditions in the ruling to determine whether the Tsai family had complied and completely dissociated itself from CtiTV news.
As to the protest, Shyr said the commission would respond, but he did not say whether he would accept the petition in person.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS