The legislature finally made available on Friday its video-on-demand (VOD) system, which allows proceedings in all chambers to be broadcast live online and be accessible to the public.
The system allows people to watch legislative meetings live online or to access videoclips permanently stored in the system on-demand.
However, it soon came under fire: The system is designed to avoid broadcasting scenes whenever meetings degenerate into a melee.
FULL PICTURE
Some fear, however, that selective broadcasts could limit people’s understanding of what is going on.
For example, when Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers criticized Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) on the legislative floor on Friday and demanded that he apologize for the economic situation, the VOD system showed a wall of the chamber and the sound was muted.
The VOD system was previously only available at the legislative building and legislators’ constituency offices across the country. Back then, no footage were cut.
DPP Legislator Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) said the new broadcasting system denied people their right to know what is going on at the legislature.
The director of the legislature’s Information Technology Department, Chen Shi-yang (陳熙揚), defended the practice, saying it was conducted in accordance with a consensus reached with the DPP caucus that controversial scenes be censored out of concern for the image of the legislature.
COMPROMISE
Legislative watchdog Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) executive director Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) said the consensus was a compromise to get some lawmakers to agree to make the broadcasts available to the public.
Ho said his organization had received many complaints about the censorship on Friday, adding that the CCW hoped pressure from the public would help change the broadcasting rules.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said the rules were established by a taskforce composed of four Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and three DPP lawmakers and that similar rules had been adopted by other countries.
Whether the rules should be revised was open to debate, Wang said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the