The National Communications Commission (NCC) should explain why CtiTV may continue to operate when it has not been fulfilling the promises it made when its license was renewed in 2014, New Power Party Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said yesterday.
Huang in the afternoon met with NCC Acting Chairman Chen Yao-hsiang (陳耀祥) to follow up on his meeting with NCC commissioners on June 18.
During the previous meeting, Huang had reportedly asked the NCC to revoke CtiTV’s license, as it had failed to fulfill the four pledges it had made in 2014 in order to renew its operating license.
Photo: Wu Po-wei, Taipei Times
The TV station had agreed to regularly hold educational training for its employees, to include members of civil groups and media experts in its ethics committee, to quickly fill vacant positions at its editorial department and to appoint an ombudsman.
“I understand that the NCC on June 19 fined CtiTV NT$500,000 for all the complaints about its content, but it was different from what I was asking for. I was asking about the actions the commission would take against CtiTV for not fulfilling pledges it made in 2014,” Huang said.
“I want to know if the commission is actually going to do something about it, or if this matter was settled when the commission issued the NT$500,000 fine on June 19,” he added.
Asked if he intends to keep pressuring the commission until it revokes CtiTV’s license, Huang said that he was only asking it to officially explain what it is going to do about the station.
“As to what the commission would say to the public, it would depend on the results of the commissioners’ review. Of course they can let CtiTV go without any punishment, even if the station has done nothing in the past five years to fulfill its promises,” he said. “However, the commission’s ruling would be examined by the public, who would see if the commission has enforced the law.”
Huang denied trying to pressure the commission to take action because of a personal feud with CtiTV.
“If lawmakers are absolutely forbidden to ask the NCC what it would do after CtiTV failed to fulfill its promises because the NCC is an independent agency, then we have to review the nation’s check-and-balance mechanism between the legislature and administrative agencies,” he said.
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