Denouncing the shooting and broadcasting of footage of a gangster by TVBS, critics yesterday said the incident highlighted the need for reform of the media with some demanding that TVBS general manager Lee Tao (李濤) step down.
Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ) president Chen Hsiao-yi (
Chen said the incident, in which TVBS reporter Shih Chen-kang (
PHOTO: CNA
The incident has not only destroyed the reputation of a reporter, it has also left TVBS' journalistic reputation damaged, she said, adding that all members of the media should conduct serious soul-searching on the matter.
The ATJ head said it was unfair that only the reporter had been fired, while his superiors, including the TVBS management, got off scot-free.
The Taiwan Bugle Society yesterday urged the National Communications Commission (NCC) to probe the ownership structure of TVBS and revoke its operating license if it were found to be foreign-owned.
Society chairman Chung Nien-huang (
The station could be subject to a fine of between NT$200,000 (US$6,250) and NT$2 million according to the Satellite and Broadcasting Law (衛星廣播電視法). The channel could also face a shut-down of between three days and three months.
Meanwhile, shouting "Shut Down TVBS!" and "Shame on TVBS!," angry pan-green Taipei City councilors and members of a pro-independence group yesterday urged a boycott of the station.
Although TVBS fired Shi and chief correspondent Chang Yu-kun (張裕坤) and claimed that it had not initially been informed of the source of the video, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Taipei City Councilor Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) and Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City (DPP) Councilor Chuang Rei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) condemned Lee for shifting all the blame onto the two reporters.
"The reporters were just scapegoats in this incident. Lee and the station will continue pressuring reporters to come up with sensational scoops," said Chien at the protest held in front of the station's building yesterday.
The protesters pledged to stage a larger demonstration to air if the NCC failed to give a penalty to the station that meets the public expectation, Chuang said.
Accusations that TVBS is 100 percent owned by Chinese capital was brought up by DPP lawmakers.
"The fact that TVBS is controlled by China explains why it often runs footage smearing Taiwan and its image. For example, a TVBS report accusing Taiwanese duck farmers of using tar to defeather their birds was aimed at promoting roast duck [imported from] Beijing," DPP Legislator Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said at a press conference.
He was referring to a TVBS report broadcast in December.
The Department of Health and Council of Agriculture later conducted an inspection of duck farms and found no evidence that tar was being used at any of them.
TSU lawmakers told a separate press conference that TVBS had made "an almost unforgivable mistake."
"Given the Chinese funding of TVBS, China might be an accomplice in the matter, in an attempt to influence Taiwan's political and economic development as well as social stability," TSU Legislator Tseng Tsahn-deng (
The Government Information Office (GIO) has previously questioned the station's ownership structure, arguing it is 100 percent foreign-owned.
TVBS management has conceded the fact that the company is completely financed by investment from Hong Kong, which is effectively admitting that it is flouting the law, because foreign investment in Taiwanese broadcasting companies cannot exceed 50 percent.
Former GIO head Pasuya Yao (姚文智) yesterday urged the public to pay attention to the transfer of media ownership, saying that the TVBS case may be the tip of the iceberg.
However, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) urged the public to give TVBS an opportunity to reform itself.
Contrary to the pan-green-camp's strong demand for action from the NCC, pan-blue lawmakers asked the NCC not to involve itself in disciplining the media.
"It's a matter concerning freedom of speech. All media have to exert self-discipline when using its right of freedom of speech, and political forces should keep their hands off TVBS," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Joanna Lei (
"It's true that TVBS made a mistake, but it's also true that public security has been deteriorating," People First Party Legislator Hwang Yih-jiau (黃義交) said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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