The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said it fined CtiTV News NT$200,000 (US$6,487) for failing to check the facts when reporting about then-Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Chen Chi-mai’s (陳其邁) rally in Cishan District (旗山) in November last year.
It was the first time since the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法) was amended in 2016 that the commission invoked Article 27, Paragraph 3, Subparagraph 4, which requires broadcasting companies to adhere to the principle of fact-checking, to penalize broadcast media.
The controversy over CtiTV’s report began when Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) hosted a campaign rally for Chen on Nov.11.
Photo: CNA
Toward the end of the rally, Chiu, speaking in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) thanked her supporters for staying for so long into the rally, but the news station reported that Chiu asked people not to leave.
Chiu later filed a complaint with the NCC, saying that CtiTV’s misinterpretation of her announcement affected the tone of Chen’s campaign.
The content was reviewed by an independent committee formed by third-party experts, NCC spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.
The committee found that the broadcast deliberately twisted Chiu’s statement and misled the audience, he said, adding that CtiTV did not run a correction.
Eastern Broadcasting Co (EBC) was also fined NT$200,000 for disseminating false information about African swine fever, which the commission said could undermine efforts to keep the disease out of the nation.
The committee ruled that EBC News breached Article 27, Paragraph 3, Subparagraph 3 of the act, which bans satellite broadcasting companies from producing content that could disrupt public order and adversely affect good social customs, Wong said.
EBC Evening News on Dec.13 reported that people who purchased products on the Chinese e-commerce site Taobao (淘寶) were given pork sausages as gifts and said that the sausages could be contaminated with the disease, the committee said.
The program’s headline suggested that people thoroughly cook the sausages before eating them or throw them away, but that is not the correct way to handle pork from disease-affected areas as suggested by the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, the commission said.
Under the act, broadcasting companies can be fined NT$200,000 to NT$2 million for breaching the subparagraphs, Wong said.
However, EBC News changed the headline of the report after its news department identified the problems with it, Wong said, adding that the commission therefore handed it a more lenient fine.
Regarding the controversies caused by last year’s broadcast of commercials produced by the Happiness of Our Next Generation Alliance, a group opposed to same-sex marriage, Wong said that the independent committee told the commission that it should remind all broadcast media business associations to pay attention to diversity when broadcasting commercials.
The commission would also hold a seminar this year to discuss how advertisements could be more balanced in reflecting public opinion on different issues.
In related news, the commission yesterday passed a draft for a proposed media diversity preservation and monopolization prevention act, which is soon to be submitted to the Executive Yuan for review.
The draft act would ban mergers among terrestrial television services, the commission said, adding that mergers among satellite broadcasters and cable broadcasters would be banned if any party holds more than 30 percent of the market share.
The bill also includes clauses that prohibit cable television systems from engaging in cross-media integration if they own more than 20 percent of the nation’s cable service subscribers.
A broadcasting company can own no more than three media outlets, it said.
For cases that do not fall into any of the stated categories, the commission would review media mergers with a list of criteria and ensure that they do not compromise the public interest, the commission said.
Management at financial holding companies would also be barred from holding more than 10 percent of a media company’s shares or directly or indirectly controlling its personnel, finance and operations, it said.
A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul. The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries. Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
A small-scale protest that called on the government to cancel its plan to welcome Indian migrant workers in a bid to tackle Taiwan’s labor shortage was held in Taipei yesterday. During the protest, comprised of a few dozen people staged in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, the protest’s chief initiator, a woman identified only as “Yuna” said they wanted the central government to reconsider allowing migrant workers from India to enter Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan had little knowledge about the potential plan to allow in Indian migrant workers until a report in the media last month, she
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with