Civic groups on Monday urged TV stations not to inflate vote counts when reporting the results of the Jan. 11 elections.
The stations should not report false vote counts to boost viewership, and the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the National Communications Commission (NCC) should fulfill their regulatory duties by holding them accountable, said a statement jointly issued by the Foundation for Excellent Journalism Award, Taiwan FactCheck Center, Taiwan Media Watch and the Quality News Development Association.
Excellent Journalism Award Foundation executive director Eve Chiu (邱家宜) said that a special committee formed by the organizations would watch broadcasts of the vote counting and record the reported ballot counts every 10 minutes.
“If the numbers become too exaggerated, the committee will report the situation to the NCC,” Chiu said.
“Some TV stations reported unrealistic vote counts in past elections,” she added.
Chiu said that several incidents have created public commotion, without specifying them, adding that fabricated vote counts could further agitate members of the public and risk sparking clashes.
The statement listed five demands by the groups.
First, stations should use reliable and disclosed sources when reporting the vote results, it said, adding that if a station has an independent ballot-counting system, it should disclose its details in advance.
Stations are prohibited from inflating vote counts in any way, it added.
Second, the Satellite Television Broadcasting Association and the Association of Terrestrial Television Networks should have their members strictly follow disciplinary agreements about coverage of election results, adding that disciplinary measures should be taken against TV channels that contravene them, the statement said.
Third, the CEC and the NCC should treat fabricated vote counts by stations seriously and record the ballot-counting process in detail, it said, adding that strict punishment should be doled out to stations that broadcast fabricated vote counts.
Fourth, people working in the media industry, including news commentators, should abide by the journalistic code of ethics, the statement said.
Finally, universities’ communications and broadcasting departments should seize this educational opportunity and help build a healthy media environment, it said, adding that instructors could ask their students to monitor broadcasts of the vote-counting process and present the records they kept afterward.
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