The SET-TV network came under fire yesterday after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) accused it of doctoring footage and distorting the role the party had played in its special report on the 228 Incident.
The 228 Incident refers to a local uprising beginning on Feb. 27, 1947, against the KMT regime, which crushed the uprising by killing tens of thousands of civilians.
From March 3 through March 7, SET-TV broadcast a series of special reports on the history of the 228 Incident to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the massacre.
PHOTO: SUNG CHIH-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
KMT lawmakers yesterday claimed the TV station had doctored an image by passing off an image of a KMT officer executing a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) member in Shanghai in 1948 as that of a Taiwanese being killed by the KMT regime during the 228 Incident. The lawmakers made the claim following a report by the Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday on the matter.
The KMT argues that the 228 Incident was the result of poor governance rather than ethnic conflict.
In a written statement, KMT Culture and Communications Committee Chairman Yang Tu (
"SET-TV used video clips from the Chinese Civil War and passed them off as belonging to the 228 Incident. It inspired hatred and violated news ethics," the statement said.
SET-TV spokeswoman Chang Cheng-fen (
SET-TV news chief editor Chen Ya-lin (
"We didn't fabricate the special report. We didn't know the clip was about the civil war between the KMT and the CCP. There was no indication on the master tape, and Juan didn't inform us of the fact. Nor did she write it in the letter of authorization," Chen said.
But Chen's comments were dismissed by Juan, who said she had told SET-TV the truth upon loaning them the tape, adding that SET-TV had willfully used the footage in a misleading way.
The National Communications Commission (NCC) later demanded that SET-TV explain its handling of the issue and sent statements to all TV stations to remind them of proper procedures in handling videos that simulate historic events.
"SET-TV's handling of the historical documents did not follow professional journalism procedures," NCC Vice Commissioner Howard Shyr (石世豪) said. "NCC will send the content to the Programs and Advertisements Consultation Committee for further examination."
In related news, DPP Legislator Lin Yu-sheng (林育生), who worked as spokesman for Premier Su Tseng-chang's (蘇貞昌) presidential campaign office, yesterday accused SET-TV of failing to remain impartial during the DPP's legislative and presidential primary.
Lin said SET-TV had paved the way for a certain candidate in the primary by making comments favoring former premier Frank Hsieh (
"Whether or not SET TV is an impartial medium or a mouthpiece is for the public to decide," Lin said, referring to a political talk show hosted by Cheng Hung-yi (鄭弘儀), which airs in the evening.
The station was unavailable for comment as of press time.
Meanwhile, accompanied by two female DPP legislators and a DPP Central Executive Committee member, DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) yesterday accused the Green Peace Broadcasting Station of siding with her rivals and attempting to discredit her by dubbing her "Chinese Khim (
Hsiao lost to rival DPP Legislator Wang Shih-cheng (王世堅) in the Taipei second district by a margin of 33.87 percent.
"It is OK to lose the primary, but I don't want to be forced out of politics as a consequence of my loyalty to the nation being put into question," she said, choking up.
Asked for comments, Green Peace Broadcasting said its spokesman was unavailable, adding that the program in which called Hsiao had been called "Chinese Khim" was outsourced.
The station said it would not meddle in how the program is produced, unless it is found to be in violation of broadcasting regulations.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching