A political talk show on the SET News channel has sparked public outrage after it referred to a COVID-19 variant that is spreading in the nation as the “Wanhua virus” (萬華病毒).
Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華) has been severely affected by an outbreak since a cluster infection was detected in the area last month.
The National Communications Commission (NCC) said it has received 26 complaints about broadcast media coverage of the outbreak since the Central Epidemic Command Center raised the COVID-19 warning in Taipei and New Taipei City to level 3 on May 15.
Photo courtesy of Freddy Lim’s legislative office
Eight of the complaints were about an episode of the SET News political talk show New Taiwan Refueling (新台灣加油) that aired on Tuesday night.
“What the nation needs the most at this difficult time is to stand united and fight the virus together, but the program used the phrase ‘Wanhua virus’ in a headline and invited guests with no experience in public health to comment on the community infection in Wanhua,” one viewer told the NCC.
“The TV program abused its influence over the direction of public opinion, and completely disregarded journalism ethics and its social responsibility. As a broadcast media regulator, the NCC should examine the case immediately,” they said.
The viewer also said that the WHO, the World Organisation for Animal Health, and the Food and Agriculture Organization in 2015 established the principle that the names of newly discovered diseases should not include geographic locations, names of people, occupations, animals or food, or “terms that incite undue fear.”
The commission said it would forward the complaints to an independent content review committee, which would examine recorded materials prepared by the NCC.
Independent Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐), who represents Taipei’s Zhongzheng (中正) and Wanhua districts, said his constituents told him that they were puzzled and angry at Wanhua suddenly becoming the origin of the virus, given that the outbreak was first detected in Wuhan, China, and the variant affecting Taiwan came from the UK.
Lin also accused Want Want China Times Group of discriminating against employees who live in Wanhua, saying that the company has arranged them to work on the same floor and in the same conference room, and has barred them from accessing break rooms.
“We received a tip that the media group looks at employees from Wanhua as a plague and treats them as if they are in concentration camps. However, it did not regulate access to the building as part of disease prevention efforts, such as asking employees to use separate entrances or elevators when entering or leaving the office,” Lin said.
Central and local government officials should investigate the allegations, as such practices are not only discriminatory, but they also increase the risks of contagion, he said.
Holy Mosquito, an online group formed by supporters of Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), asked why the variant was called the “Wanhua virus,” and not “Novotel virus” or “311 virus.”
The group was referring to the Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport hotel, where the UK variant first spread through a community infection involving China Airlines pilots. The pilots were allowed to undergo a shortened quarantine period of only three days followed by 11 days of self-health management, as opposed to 14 days of quarantine and seven days of self-health management for travelers arriving from a foreign country.
Sanlih Entertainment Television, which owns SET News, issued an apology, saying its intention was not to cause chaos or vilify Wanhua residents.
The network also issued a correction in yesterday’s episode of the talk show and said the incident would be reviewed by its own news ethics committee.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS