Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) was the most widely covered politician on television in Taiwan in February, with the number of stories about him exceeding those about Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), a National Communications Commission (NCC) report released on Wednesday said.
The commission has been periodically releasing the results of its television news monitoring efforts it began in September last year.
Wednesday’s report said Han and Tsai were the most reported politicians in January, accounting for 37.85 percent and 28.91 percent respectively of the airtime dedicated to coverage of politicians and public figures on all news channels.
Photo: CNA
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) came in third; followed by former premier William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) then-vice presidential candidate; and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘), with 7.13 percent, 5.52 percent and 5.43 percent respectively.
Chen, who also heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), which was activated on Jan. 20, became the most covered politician in February, accounting for nearly 39 percent of airtime on public figures, compared with 14.96 percent for Tsai and 8.81 percent for Han.
Coverage of Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) accounted for 12.81 percent and 9.9 percent respectively.
Most news channels spent most of the coverage on Han in January, with the exception of Taiwan Television (TTV), Chinese Television System (CTV), Formosa Television (FTV) and TVBS, where Tsai was the most covered politician, the report said.
However, in February, Chen received most of the airtime for public figures on all 11 news channels being monitored, it said. CTV, TTV and Eastern Broadcasting Co (EBC) provided most of the coverage of the health minister, accounting for 51.04 percent, 49.5 percent and 46.84 percent of their public figure airtime respectively.
The news channels in January focused on the coverage of the DPP and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidates, both before and after the Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections, the commission said.
As the novel coronavirus outbreak in China and elsewhere became a prominent issue in February, television news shifted their focus to CECC and the Executive Yuan officials, it said.
The report was based on monitoring of the mid-day (12pm to 1pm) and evening (7pm to 8pm) news on 10 TV channels and Global News on the multimedia-on-demand system between Jan. 3 and Jan. 9 and between Feb. 9 and Feb. 15, with a focus on politicians and public figures.
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