National Communications Commission (NCC) commissioners yesterday reached a unanimous decision to reject CTi News’ (中天新聞台) license renewal application on the grounds that the channel’s frequent contraventions of media regulations showed that it has a malfunctioning internal control mechanism that cannot be rectified.
This was the first time since it was established in 2006 that the commission denied a license renewal to a news channel.
NCC Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) announced the landmark decision at the commission’s weekly media briefing.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The commission denied the renewal request because the news channel was fined a total of NT$11.53 million (US$400,932) for 25 breaches of media regulations between 2014 and this year — significantly more than other news channels, Chen said.
Last year, the commission received 962 consumer complaints regarding the channel’s broadcasting content, which accounted for about 31 percent of all complaints received that year, he said.
Evidence the commission collected at an administrative hearing on Oct. 26, and a meeting between NCC commissioners and CTi News on Nov. 4 showed that the fundamental problem was that the channel’s largest shareholder, Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時集團) founder Tsai Eng-ming (蔡衍明), had directly and indirectly intervened in the news production process.
The channel’s management said it did not have a full-time managing director in the news department for five months in 2018, and that the post was then assumed by Chiu Chia-yu (邱佳瑜), who was Tsai’s special assistant, Chen said, adding that during this time, the channel’s breaches increased.
During the news conference, Chen was bombarded with questions from reporters, particularly by CTi News journalists.
They asked whether the commission was concerned that its ruling would leave the nation with only one political voice.
“Taiwan has freedom of the press, and it has never been reduced to one voice after it became a real democratic country and entered the digital era,” Chen told them.
Asked if the commission is prepared to engage in a legal battle, Chen said that it respects CTi News’ right to seek redress through the judicial system, adding that it is confident that the review process would hold up to scrutiny.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) yesterday extended sympathy to the employees of CTi News, but said that it does not believe the decision infringes on freedom of the press.
In a statement released after the NCC’s decision, RSF said freedom of the press does not mean an absence of oversight.
The group also supported the legitimacy of the NCC’s investigation, saying that a periodic licensure review by an independent agency is standard procedure in democracies.
It also called for the same standards to be applied to applications from media outlets of all political stripes.
The government must take responsibility for the nation’s past and current lack of journalistic ethics and editorial autonomy, the group added.
Reporters are working in an extremely polarized and profit-seeking environment, which affects the people’s right to complete and undistorted information, it said.
No matter what party is in power, RSF called on the government to ensure journalistic integrity.
Additional reporting by Kayleigh Madjar
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he