Six television news channels were fined a total of NT$1.2 million (US$41,148) for contravening the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視) with their reports of a man threatening to poison people who eat shark fin soup.
The man, identified as Shih Po-han (施伯翰), who call shimself “protectsharksman” (護鯊哥), reportedly sent fake severed arms to stores selling dried shark fins.
Earlier this year, Shih made a video in which he threatened to poison all shark fin soup eaters. The video drew wide media coverage.
“I will poison rich people who like to eat shark fins. I will kill them all... I have sent 1,300 of my warriors to all restaurants selling shark fin soup and stores selling dried shark fins. They have been charged with putting fatal poison in shark fin soup,” Shih said in the video.
After receiving public complaints about the media coverage, the National Communications Commission (NCC) on Jan. 31 recorded broadcast reports about Shih’s video and asked an independent committee composed of media experts and civic group representatives to review the video.
The committee ruled that Next TV News, ERA TV News, CTi TV News, Sanlih TV News and Formosa TV News, as well as Formosa TV on the terrestrial TV service should be fined NT$200,000 each.
TVBS News received only a warning for its report on the video.
NCC spokesman Weng Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said the six news channels that have been fined have quoted words of menace from Shih’s video posted on Facebook.
Viewers could imitate him and even be motivated to commit crimes as well, Weng said.
These stations contravened the Satellite Broadcasting Act by disrupting social order, he said.
TVBS News on Feb. 4 also reported on Shih’s video, but did not include the full content of the video and filtered out some of the offensive language, Weng said.
The committee therefore deemed its infringement of the act to be minor, he said.
News channels should properly handle content involving violence, bloodshed and menace, the NCC said, adding that the TV news stations should evaluate if some of these controversial materials should be edited out in post-production.
In related news, Fox Crime channel is facing a NT$400,000 fine for violating the nation’s TV rating system regulations.
The channel aired an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Las Vegas that was classified as “Protected,” which allows viewing by children six years or older with parental guidance.
However, the episode displayed a gory scene, in which a crime victim was stabbed to death, which was incongruent with content allowed in P-rated programs.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai