Days before the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) planned rally to highlight the issue of media monopolization, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said yesterday that his caucus would support legislation to address the problem.
Wu told a press conference that the KMT caucus would agree to amendments to the Radio and Television Act (廣播電視法), the Cable Television Act (有線電視法) and the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法) proposed by DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) to prevent media monopolies.
Wu’s comment marked a sharp change from the caucus’ previous position.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Public concern about media monopolization has risen after the acquisition of Hong Kong-based Next Media’s four outlets in Taiwan by a consortium that includes the son of pro-China tycoon Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), chairman of the Want Want China Times Group.
The acquisition still has to be approved by the Fair Trade Commission and the National Communications Commission.
The KMT caucus has previously refused to sign a petition by students and civic activists in support of legislation to guard against media monopolies, and boycotted legislative reviews of the amendments proposed by Yeh.
The amendments include a regulation that the number of channels owned by media operators and their related enterprises cannot account for more than one-tenth of all channels.
Wu said the KMT would also support the DPP’s proposal on regulations governing the electronic media and it would suggest that the print media also be covered by anti-media monopolization regulations.
Unlike the DPP, which he said had only focused on the sale of Next Media to the Want Want Group, the KMT opposes all media-monopolization cases, Wu said.
Wu said the caucus had refrained from commenting on the issue before, because it did not want to interfere in the Next Media acquisition.
The three amendments are to be reviewed at the legislature’s Transportation Committee today, with representatives from the Fair Trade Commission attending.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS