Taiwan Media Watch yesterday recommended 45 programs from 13 television channels that it said were appropriate for children under 12 years old.
The watchdog group was commissioned by the National Communications Commission (NCC) to review the TV programs. It classified the contents of the programs based on age groups covering children aged two to six, seven to nine, 10 to 12 and seven to 12.
Taiwan Media Watch spokesperson Lin Fu-yueh (林福岳) said that the review committee was comprised of media experts, elementary school teachers, parents, children and representatives of not-for-profit organizations.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Committee members jointly determined if the contents of a program were suitable for the age group recommended by the television channels, he said.
Programs reviewed included cartoons, educational programs and game shows for children.
Popular cartoons, such as US animated series SpongeBob SquarePants and Japanese manga series One Piece, were not included on the approved list.
Most of the approved programs were submitted by dedicated children’s channels, religious channels, the Public Television Service (PTS), Hakka TV and the Chinese Television System of the Taiwan Broadcasting System. Only a few of them came from commercial television stations, including Next TV and Taiwan Television.
Jason Ho (何吉森), director of the NCC’s communication content department, said that many cartoons were not on the list because the channels did not apply to have them reviewed, rather than being because they had not been approved.
Commenting on the scarcity of children’s programs provided by commercial TV stations, Ho said that the commission could only encourage the stations to increase the percentage of programs for children and teenagers, particularly those companies holding broadcasting licenses for channels offering a variety of content.
The watchdog group also provided labels for each category so that parents can know if programs are suitable for their children.
Lin said children were included in the committee reviewing the programs because they should have the right to help decide which programs people their age can watch.
Huang Chin-yi (黃金益), director of the NCC’s Radio and Television Administration Department, said that television channels could broadcast high-quality children’s programs as a way to improve their reputations.
According to Huang, the number of children’s programs included in the review this year rose by 40 percent compared with last year, a sign that more stations are starting to target young audiences.
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
COUNTERMEASURE: Taiwan was to implement controls for 47 tech products bound for South Africa after the latter downgraded and renamed Taipei’s ‘de facto’ offices The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still reviewing a new agreement proposed by the South African government last month to regulate the status of reciprocal representative offices, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Asked about the latest developments in a year-long controversy over Taiwan’s de facto representative office in South Africa, Lin during a legislative session said that the ministry was consulting with legal experts on the proposed new agreement. While the new proposal offers Taiwan greater flexibility, the ministry does not find it acceptable, Lin said without elaborating. The ministry is still open to resuming retaliatory measures against South
RSS