The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday approved Formosa Hakka Radio’s (寶島客家電台) application to have its programs aired on other radio stations, but said it must first address the issue of embedded marketing in some of its programs.
Formosa Hakka is a non-profit radio station that receives subsidies from the Council for Hakka Affairs, commission spokesperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said.
Chen said the commission had taped Formosa Hakka’s programs and found that two of them may have violated regulations banning embedded marketing from the government.
The commission will turn these two programs over to a content review committee composed of media experts not affiliated with the commission and let them determine if the programs had violated the Budget Act (預算法), he added.
Chen said that some people had accused the commission of being strict in dealing with embedded marketing from private businesses, but not with that involving the government.
NCC commissioners have decided to address that issue through this case, he said.
After asking the management of Formosa Hakka Radio to appear and answer questions from NCC commissioners yesterday, Chen said the commissioners spent almost an entire morning deliberating the case.
Jason Ho (何吉森), director of the commission’s communications content department, said two of the programs mentioned that they were sponsored by the Council for Hakka Affairs.
Moreover, they spent a considerable amount of time during the programs to promote an award hosted by the council.
“One of the programs, called 937 Hakka Cafe, was a two-hour program, but the host spent an hour interviewing the winners of the CFA award,” Ho said as an example.
“We will let the Directorate- General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics [the agency responsible for execution and compliance with the Budget Act] review the case and send it to the content review committee as well,” Ho said.
An amendment in the Budget Act requires that all government agencies and state-run enterprises to clearly mark policy advocacy as advertising.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard