The transfer of cases of suspected violations of the Election and Recall Act (選舉罷免法) to the Central Election Committee’s (CEC) New Taipei City (新北市) branch is “bureaucratic back-covering,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said.
The cases were transferred to the branch after the shooting of Sean Lien (連勝文) at a campaign rally before last November’s special municipality elections.
Lien, the eldest son of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰), was shot in New Taipei City’s Yonghe District (永和) while stumping for KMT New Taipei City council candidate Chen Hung-yuan (陳鴻源) in what was allegedly a financial dispute between the shooter Lin Cheng-wei (林正偉) and Chen Hung-yuan.
Jason Ho (何吉森), director of the National Communications Commission’s department of communication content, made the allegations regarding violations of the Election and Recall Act during a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee on Dec. 1 last year.
Ho said the News Express (新聞快報) show on Chinese Television (CTV); CtiTV’s 2000 News at Eight (2000新聞八點通) and Taiwan’s Grand Forum (台灣大論壇); and Eastern Broadcasting Co’s (EBC) Golden Eight to Nine (黃金八九點), Critical Hour (關鍵時刻) and the “Special Report on Sean Lien Shot” (連勝文中彈特別報導) violated Article 49, paragraph 3 of the act.
Paragraph 3 of Article 49 of the Act states that “Any reports or invitation of guests on issues concerning elections by televised media should be just and fair, and should not give any news or person preferential treatment without just cause.”
Ho said the shooting of Sean Lien was a social case and should not be tied with election activities.
However, Ho said that several TV channels inserted the shooting incident between footage of candidates canvassing for votes, adding that whether portraying the event in such a way was in violation of fairness or could sway elections was within the jurisdiction of the CEC and not with the commission.
Suspecting the TV channels had violated the Act, the commission sent the case to the CEC, which then transferred it to the New Taipei City branch on grounds that the New Taipei City branch was the primary -administrative organization involved.
The case has disappeared from public view since it was transferred.
Late last month, Chen Ting-fei sent a letter to the CEC asking about the progress it had made in the case.
In response, Chen Ting-fei was informed that the New Taipei City branch’s supervisory unit had held two committee meetings on the case, one on Dec. 21 and one on Jan. 21, ruling that none of the six shows had violated paragraph 3 of Article 49’s “preferential treatment without just cause.”
As the commission’s knowledge and handling of news media should substantially surpass that of other government organizations, why did it not judge the case under the Broadcasting and Television Act (廣播電視法), instead throwing the case to the CEC, Chen Ting-fei asked.
The commission’s decision is “bureaucratic back-covering” because it does not have the courage to take the case to court even when it has the ability, Chen Ting-fei said.
Chen Ting-fei said the CEC was afraid that once it began investigating the case, the public sector would learn that some news media outlets had slandered the DPP, which had an impact on the the election results.
That such obviously biased reportage was not punished by any measures has set a precedent that could cause more media and pundits to fearlessly campaign for the KMT, because no matter how biased they are they would not be punished, Chen ting-fei said.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
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