The National Communications Commission (NCC) should adopt equal standards for news media, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) said yesterday amid accusations that CtiTV News was being influenced by China.
The Financial Times in an article on Wednesday cited a source who said that CtiTV News and the China Times received calls from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office directing them on how to report the news that day.
The commission on Thursday said that it would launch an investigation into CtiTV News and the China Times.
Photo: CNA
Han said in a statement he was certain that overseas compatriots, as well as residents in Taiwan, including Kinmen, Lienchiang and Penghu counties, loved the Republic of China (ROC) and its flag.
He does not believe that the TV channel is a sellout, Han said.
The commission on Wednesday said that CtiTV News dedicated 70 percent of its airtime in May to Han.
“There are only two factions that wish to unmake the ROC — the People’s Republic of China and the Taiwanese independence faction,” he said.
With political concerns elevated over journalistic neutrality, the council has become a tool for media oppression, one that allows slander and defamation of certain candidates, while punishing positive reporting of that same candidate, he said.
“This [double standard] cannot remain,” Han said.
The commission yesterday reiterated its stance that the media and broadcasting companies should be professional and autonomous.
It is investigating the issue and if the accusations are true, CtiTV News and the China Times would be liable to provisions of the Radio and Television Act (廣播電視法), the Cable Television Act (有線電視法) and the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法), the commission said.
The case could be transferred to other authorities if breaches of the National Security Act (國防安全法) or the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) are suspected, it said.
The commission will not acknowledge baseless and irrational accusations, acting NCC spokesperson Hsiao Chi-hung (蕭祈宏) said in response to Han’s accusations that the commission was oppressing some media firms.
Media firms should adhere to Item 2, Act 27 of the Satellite Broadcasting Act and “be sure to verify the facts and observe the principle of fairness when making news or commentaries,” Hsiao said.
Media firms should be professional and autonomous, and should not allow inappropriate political intervention, he said.
Additional reporting by Liu Li-jen
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened 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), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS