A National Communications Commission (NCC) investigation found Eastern TV News (ETTV) spent nearly 73 percent of its evening and late-night news on April 12 covering Chinese show I Am A Singer (我是歌手), the highest among the nation’s news stations.
The broadcast of the Hunan Television show created a controversy because the coverage might have broached both media and cross-strait regulations.
Huang Chin-yi (黃金益), director of the commission’s Communication Management department, said the commission reviewed the new channels between 7:30pm and 11:30pm on April 12 and found that ETTV News spent 72.75 percent of its airtime covering the contest.
TVBS devoted 39.37 percent of its airtime to the show, TVBS-New 21.61 percent and CtiTV 18.56 percent, Huang said.
“ETTV spent 5,933 seconds [almost 99 minutes] broadcasting the show live,” he said.
The commission had asked the the news channels management to answer questions from commission staff, and it referred ETTV News’ case to an independent content review committee, Huang said.
“Members of the independent committee said that ETTV spent such a long time airing the Hunan Television singing contest, which was controversial in regards to the channel’s professional judgement about major news events and the reasonable airtime that should be given them,” he said.
“Not only did the channel fail to follow the norms practiced by the domestic and international news organizations on broadcasting music competitions, it only gave short notice about the programming change. It violated the principles of its operational plan, which were to ensure the diversity of the programs and to protect the public’s interest,” he said.
Commission spokesperson Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝成) said the commissioners would examine all evidence and take into account the independent committee’s opinion before delivering a ruling.
Meanwhile, ETTV Variety Channel was fined NT$400,000 for changing its operational plan without telling the NCC.
It had said it would produce its own prime time TV dramas and it would limit programs not produced in Taiwan to below 10 percent of its content. However, the commission found 40 percent of its programs between January 2011 and June 2011 were not made in Taiwan.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS