Legislators yesterday accused the Central News Agency (CNA) of pressuring journalists to solicit advertisers and sponsors for paid news stories and illegally channeling commissions owed to reporters to a personal account, with the state-owned agency disputing the allegations and announcing that it would no longer use reporters in marketing activities.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Wang Ding-yu (王定宇), Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純) and Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said at a news conference that CNA chairman Chen Kuo-hsiang (陳國祥) forced reporters to solicit advertisers and write paid stories, while transferring profits to a staff member’s personal account, which is not listed on the agency’s annual financial reports.
CNA is prohibited from publishing paid news to maintain media neutrality, but according to the CNA worker’s union and unnamed reporters at the agency, the organization has factored in reporters’ “sales performance” as a part of their annual reviews, even though reporters are not obliged to market the agency’s “products,” Wang said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Reporters have been told that stories that are favorable to the agency’s sponsors or the agency’s business development are more likely to be published, Wang said.
Reporters are eligible for a 20 percent to 30 percent commission on sales, but they only receive a 10 percent commission, and CNA directs the rest of the money to a female staff member’s personal account, Wang said.
“Is the money the agency’s secret fund? Even if the money is not used for personal purposes, which would constitute corruption, the failure to include the account in CNA’s financial reports is a violation of budget laws,” Wang said.
The money has reportedly been used to fund reporters’ travel expenses and bonuses, but that does not justify CNA’s practice, because the government has allocated budget to the agency for those purposes, Wang said.
CNA said only six news desk directors and deputy directors are “news professionals” and are therefore excluded from the agency’s sales development activities, while 98 reporters, editors and staff members are not, Ho said.
A total of 106 employees have resigned since Chen assumed the chairmanship in 2013, partly due to the agency’s imposition of marketing requirements, Ho said.
The agency said reporters’ performance assessments do not include marketing performance and non-sales staff are not obliged to perform marketing tasks.
CNA said that as of Thursday last week it no longer asks reporters to “assist” the sales department, while commissions have always been fixed at 10 percent.
The agency said it does not blur the lines between news and advertising, adding that the allegation that paid news stories make up 30 percent of its coverage is ungrounded.
“All allegations should be grounded in fact. To protect its rights, the agency will take legal action against any false accusations,” Chen posted on Facebook.
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