Shareholders with at least a 10 percent stake in television news channels would be obligated to disclose any other businesses they have, according to a draft media monopolization prevention and diversity preservation act.
The draft act was passed at the National Communications Commission’s (NCC) weekly meeting yesterday, NCC acting spokesperson Hsiao Chi-hung (蕭祈宏) said, adding that it would resubmit the bill to the Executive Yuan for review.
News channels that fail to disclose the required information could be fined NT$100,000 to NT$1 million (US$3,236 to US$32,357), according to the draft act, Department of Legal Affairs Acting Director Huang Wen-che (黃文哲) said.
Asked if news channels would be in contravention of media regulations if they broadcast advertisements funded by Chinese companies, Huang said that the commission would focus on whether the channels follow the disclosure requirement.
Contents of TV advertisements from China are regulated by the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), Huang said.
Article 34 of the act stipulates that advertisements of goods or services from China may be broadcast, published or promoted in Taiwan.
However, advertisement or activity cannot contain any political propaganda for the Chinese Communist Party; violate any policy, law or regulation of the government; or present content disrupting public order or good morals, the act says.
The commission in February submitted the draft act to the Executive Yuan, which returned it on March 15 and asked the commission to examine if there are any clauses that conflict with other media regulations.
“After a thorough review, the commission did not find any clauses that contradict other media regulations, including a draft telecommunications management act, which has secured preliminary approval at the legislature’s Transportation Committee,” Huang said.
Asked whether any changes were made to the draft act, Huang said that commissioners added only one new rule to Article 5 to ensure that TV news channels operate independently and report to the commission the sources of their advertising revenues by June 30 every year.
The information must also be disclosed on the channels’ Web sites, he added.
Commissioners believe that the disclosure requirement would help audiences understand why certain channels report certain news stories first, NCC officials said.
When reviewing the performance of a news channel or its license renewal application, commissioners can also see how well the channel handles news coverage involving itself, they said.
The draft act would keep the clauses related to the principle of separating financial institutions and media companies, although these would not be retrospectively applied to cases that have already been approved by the NCC, the commission said.
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