National Communications Commission (NCC) Chairperson Su Herng (蘇蘅) yesterday said that the commission was monitoring Next TV’s (壹電視) online broadcasts and would use available media laws to regulate its content.
Su made the remarks in response to press queries on her views about the network’s unconventional practices.
While the NCC has yet to decide whether to grant operational licenses for Next TV to broadcast its news, information and entertainment channels, the network started online broadcasts last week, essentially bypassing all government regulations.
“I think we are very concerned about this development, but we need to see what the regulations say,” said Su, who was head of the journalism department at National Chengchi University before assuming the NCC post on Sunday.
NCC spokesperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said the commission had recorded Next TV’s online programs and would give them to an independent committee entrusted with reviewing applications for the network’s above-stated three channels.
Communication Content Department Director Jason Ho (何吉森) said that unlike content broadcast on TV or radio, the government had adopted a low-supervision policy regarding content disseminated over the Internet. The commission would have to use different standards to evaluate online content, he said, adding that Web content is regulated by the Regulations for the Rating of Internet Content (電腦網路內容分級處理辦法)
“The use of animation in news is expected to generate a lot of discussion when the committee reviews the applications,” Ho said.
Last week, the NCC unveiled the results of a study showing that children and teenagers access Internet content more frequently during summer months.
Article 13 of the Regulations Governing the Classification of Television Programs (電視節目分級處理辦法) states that “images of news broadcasting programs shall be subject to classified G regulations, without classification labeling.”
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
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:
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
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