The Government Information Office (GIO) made an about-face on Monday, concluding that several local TV stations that broadcast China’s National Day parade last Wednesday did not break the law.
“[The programs] were not subjected to review as they were locally produced, real-time special news reports and not television shows produced by China,” said Ho Nai-chi (何乃麒), head of the GIO’s Department of Broadcast Affairs.
Last Friday, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) demanded the government investigate the appropriateness of the live broadcasts by ETTV, CtiTV and TVBS of the event showcasing China’s military power in its 60th anniversary parade.
At the time Ho said the stations may have violated regulations.
According to the “Guidelines for Permitting Mainland Publications, Movies, Video, Radio and Television Programs to Enter, or be Issued, Sold, Produced, Broadcast, Exhibited, and Copied in the Taiwan Region, (大陸地區出版品電影片錄影節目廣播電視節目進入台灣地區或在台灣地區發行銷售製作播映展覽觀摩許可辦法),” Chinese-produced television programs should be reviewed before broadcast.
The guideline is a bylaw of the Act Governing the Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the People of the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例).
Ho said the regulation was not applicable in this case as the nature of the live broadcast of the parade was basically a special news report produced by the television stations themselves.
“Despite the fact that they used some footage from [China’s] TV stations and broadcast the parade for more than an hour, quite a long time, they had their own anchors, commentators and reporters covering the events there,” Ho said.
The DPP said that the broadcast violated the cross-strait act by promoting unification, but Ho said it was how the program was produced and not its content that should be censored.
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