With the Chinese-language newspapers Apple Daily and China Times poised to branch out into the field of television, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday that it would strive to prevent media enterprises from monopolizing news sources.
Jimmy Lai (黎智英), founder of Next Media, which owns the Apple Daily, said in a recent interview in the Wall Street Journal Asia that he was planning to spend US$200 million to launch two cable news channels. Last year, Want Want China Holdings Ltd chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) bought the China Times Group, which includes the China Times and Commercial Times dailies and the China Times Weekly magazine, as well as CTI TV and China Television (中視).
NCC commissioner Chung Chi-huey (鍾啟惠) said the media watchdog had taken note of the latest changes in media ownership and was particularly concerned about how the integration of print and television media might affect public opinion.
Chung said that while the NCC still had to discuss the issue and had not yet reviewed any specific case, the commission plans to scrutinize media ownership and its impact on society to help it deal with cases that might arise this year.
She said that although the US Federal Communications Commission lifted the nation’s ban on media integration 12 years ago, it has since ruled on some large cases, including the merger of AOL and Time Warner in 2000.
Some level of regulation was necessary, Chung said.
“How the technology of digital convergence is used should be examined in the social and historical contexts of the nation,” she said at a press conference yesterday on the amendment of the Satellite Radio and Television Act (衛星廣播電視法).
Commissioner Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) said that while the NCC had considered issues related to the integration of media ownership when it was working on amendments to the Satellite Radio and Television Act, it was such an involved issue that the commission had been unable to include the relevant regulations in the current amendment.
Weng said media ownership regulations may be added in a future second amendment to the Satellite Radio and Television Act, and would be included in the Broadcasting and Television Act (廣播電視法), which is in the process of being amended.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
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