CtiTV yesterday apologized for what it described as a “negligent” translation of its interview with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Noam Chomsky about the ongoing controversy over the movement against media monopolization in Taiwan.
The interview, conducted last week by CtiTV Washington bureau chief John Zang (臧國華), came in the wake of a series of articles in the Chinese-language China Times — part of the Want Want China Times Group (旺旺中時集團) — alleging that Taiwanese graduate student Lin Ting-an (林庭安) had deceived Chomsky by failing to explain the slogan on a placard the professor was photographed holding that denounced “China’s black hands” interfering in local media.
Lin had contacted the 84-year-old Chomsky by e-mail to provide him with background information on the movement and fears of Chinese influence in Taiwanese media before visiting him at MIT. She made the e-mail public last week and said she had explained the situation to Chomsky before the photograph was taken.
Photo: Huang Chen-yi, Taipei Times
As reported by the Taipei Times on Saturday, Chomsky said in an official e-mail response that he did not fully understand the contents of the placard, but denied that he was misled by Lin, blaming the “misunderstanding” on his inability to read Chinese.
In his CtiTV interview with Zang, which was aired on Saturday, Chomsky said he was “misled by my lack of ability to read Chinese,” adding that he could not understand what was on the placard.
“I still don’t know what it says,” he said.
After a narration by Zang, Chomsky then said: “Sometimes it’s a conscious effort to misuse … I found out about such cases so often.”
The comments were not given any context, making it unclear if they were related to the placard, Lin’s approach or any of the sensitive political issues the professor has involved himself with over the decades.
However, Zang tied Chomsky’s remarks firmly to the controversy through a voiceover.
Soon after the interview was aired, people in the movement against media monopolization said that the captions accompanying the segment were also “misleading.”
To prove their point, they then uploaded a video on YouTube with a split screen comparing the translation made by CtiTV on the left-hand side with more accurate captioning on the right.
“Do they think we don’t understand English?” one person said in a Facebook post accompanying a link to the original interview.
In a brief statement on its Web site posted yesterday at about noon, CtiTV apologized for the poor translation of Chomsky’s remarks during the interview and attributed the errors to “negligence.”
It said the segment would be reviewed and improved.
Netizens immediately responded that the apology was inadequate, adding that they strongly doubted the errors were the result of negligent translation, but rather a deliberate attempt to mislead viewers.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique