Taipei government takes a swipe at GIO's VCD U-turn

Taipei City Government yesterday accused the Government Infor-mation Office (GIO) of sweeping its problems under the carpet after it flip-flopped on a decision to ban a satirical VCD.

"The GIO's explanation is specially designed for the Special Report VCDs," said city government spokesman Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇). "It is obvious that the GIO intended to help [the makers of the VCD] avoid incriminating themselves."

The city's Law and Regulation Commission Director Chen Ching-hsiu (陳清秀) said that, according to the Broadcasting and Television Law (廣播電視法), the VCD, which lampoons senior figures in the pan-blue camp, was still illegal because it failed to clearly outline information about the publisher and its legal registration.

Chen said that three legal steps needed to be completed before a VCD could be issued -- the publishers must register and obtain a circulation license from the GIO, the contents must be reviewed and passed by the GIO and the VCDs' packaging has to be marked with the licensed serial numbers and the name of the publisher.

"We still have no idea about who the publisher is, there is no information on the VCDs' packaging," Chen said. "The GIO's explanation only exempts the VCD from being reviewed before it is released."

Chen said the city government still considered the VCD illegal and it would consult with the GIO about whether to ban it.

The GIO announced on Monday that two additional kinds of taped TV programs that don't need to be sent to it for review before airing will be added to 13 already regulated by law.

"If some people say they wish to discuss global pornography and produce a VCD with pornographic images, how will the government handle that situation?" Wu asked.