The management of Mirror TV yesterday told the National Communications Commission (NCC) that it would not host any political talk shows during prime-time viewing hours once the channel is established, adding that it would retain a full-time ombudsman to monitor news quality.
The commission yesterday began reviewing an application filed in December 2019 by Mirror Media, which also owns a Chinese-language weekly magazine, to establish a TV news channel.
It ruled that it would resume deliberations after the channel provides additional information requested by commissioners.
Photo: Yang Mien-chieh, Taipei Times
Mirror Media president Pei Wei (裴偉) and National Chengchi University adjunct professor Weng Shieu-chi (翁秀琪) visited the commission yesterday morning to answer questions about the application, NCC Deputy Chairman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.
NCC commissioners and the media group’s management discussed several issues, including the plan to recruit Weng as a full-time ombudsman to monitor the channel’s news programs.
“Weng told us that she accepted the job after reading the channel’s business plan, adding that she loves challenges and is interested in establishing an ombudsman system,” Wong said.
Weng said that as an ombudsman she would be a mentor, communicator and coach, and her job would be to ensure that the channel follows media regulations by verifying the authenticity of information before airing it, he said.
NCC commissioners asked if the ombudsman system could function as Weng has planned, as a similar system was unsuccessfully executed in CTi News before the commission rejected its license renewal last year.
The ombudsman at CTi News, Shih Hsin University vice president Chen Ching-ho (陳清河), testified in an administrative hearing last year that he did not have time to watch all of the channel’s programs and would only give advice from time to time.
Chen assumed a part-time position, but Weng has been offered a full-time position and would have an office and two assistants, Wong said.
Mirror Media’s news channel and weekly magazine would operate separately and have different shareholders, board directors and supervisors, Wong said.
Audio-visual content currently shown on the weekly magazine’s Web site would not be aired on the television channel, he said.
Meanwhile, the group plans to increase the number of employees at the news channel to 450. So far, it has recruited about 200 staff, including 41 people who were previously working at the magazine.
Unlike other local news channels, Mirror TV would not air political talk shows between 8pm and 10pm, Mirror Media told commissioners, adding that it would broadcast investigative reports during prime-time hours instead.
The channel would also devote a large part of its programming to reports on art and entertainment, international news and issues concerning children and teenagers.
The group said that the new news channel would be available on cable, as well as Chunghwa Telecom’s multimedia-on-demand (MOD) system.
In other news, the commission has yet to rule on Eastern Broadcasting Co’s application to have three of its channels that were airing overseas broadcast on the MOD system.
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
DIPLOMACY: It is Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo’s first visit to Taiwan since he took office last year, while Eswatini’s foreign minister is also paying a visit A delegation led by Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo arrived in Taiwan yesterday afternoon and is to visit President William Lai (賴清德) today. The delegation arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 4:55pm, and was greeted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). It is Arevalo’s first trip to Taiwan since he took office last year, and following the visit, he is to travel to Japan to celebrate the 90th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Arevalo said at the airport that he is very glad to make the visit to Taiwan, adding that he brings an important message of responsibility
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
RSS