While the Council of Grand Justices has yet to issue an official ruling on the constitutionality of the National Communications Commission (NCC), the nation's legal minds have already pointed to the contradictions in the commission's establishment law that may place the legitimacy of the commission in question.
At a press conference hosted by Taiwan Association of University Professors yesterday, participants said that the fact that the NCC members were chosen based on the percentage of representation of each political party in the legislature is in conflict with the founding principle of the commission, which dictates that political parties, the government and the military should not be involved in the media.
The same rule also deprives the premier of any right to appoint government officials to NCC posts, the participants said, adding that the rule allows the Legislative Yuan to nominate and review the qualifications of the candidates, and the Executive Yuan can only appoint those who are approved by the legislators.
"The NCC was established with due consideration to professionalism and with the desire to prevent political intervention in the NCC's operations," said Chen Yaw-shyang (
The presentation yesterday came after the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times's sister newspaper) reported last week that the Grand Justices have reached a conclusion that the establishment law of the nation's highest media supervisory organization should be ruled unconstitutional.
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