Former Public Television Service (PTS) president and CEO Sylvia Feng (馮賢賢) yesterday urged the National Communications Commission (NCC) to conduct a thorough review of an application by the public broadcaster for a management change and to give her a chance to testify in public on the matter.
Protesting at the NCC, Feng accused PTS acting chairman Chen Sheng-fu (陳勝福) of illegally discharging her in a secret meeting.
NCC spokesperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said the commission had not received an application from PTS on change of management, which must be approved by the NCC before taking effect.
“We will determine whether it is necessary to hold a testimony after we have received the application. I cannot comment on the case now,” Chen Jeng-chang said.
Chen Jeng-chang said that as the Government Information Office (GIO) is in charge of PTS, the NCC had no right to become involved in the PTS management reshuffle.
The NCC is only authorized to review a station’s operational plan to ensure that its content meets broadcasting standards and to assess a proposed board member’s qualifications for the position, Chen Jeng-chang said.
“The NCC normally would not turn down an application for management change unless there is a major problem with a candidate. For instance, an appointment could be illegal if an insufficient number of board directors attended the meeting,” he said.
Huang Chin-yi (黃金益), deputy director of the commission’s Department of Operational Administration, accepted Feng’s petition on behalf of the commission. Huang said NCC records still list Feng as PTS chief executive, adding that the commission would have to follow legal procedures to handle her request.
Feng has accused the GIO of allowing Chen Sheng-fu to take over the PTS board after filing a preliminary injunction against former PTS chairman Cheng Tung-liao (鄭同僚) and six other board directors.
Chen Sheng-fu issued a statement last night saying PTS had followed due process in Feng’s dismissal.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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