A Taipei city councilor and a politician from the pan-green camp yesterday criticized Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) for expressing support for CTiTV News, which lost its operating license last year after a series of violations.
The channel has since moved its programming to YouTube.
Taipei City Councilor Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) of the Social Democratic Party said that she over the weekend received an online link to a video and had her office team authenticate it.
Photo courtesy of Taipei City Government
In the video Ko says: “CTiTV News has turned into Taiwan’s biggest news YouTuber, in keeping up the work to scrutinize the government, reporting on the pulse of society and giving voice to the common people.”
“You can change the network’s TV channel, but there is no concession on news media’s professionalism and its soul,” Ko says as the video cuts to a CTiTV news program, making it seem like an endorsement from the mayor.
Miao yesterday said Ko has once again reversed his stance, as he had said during a number of news controversies in 2019 that “when Taiwan has such media [CTiTV], who needs enemies?”
After verifying the video as genuine, Miao posted it on social media, where it circulated widely, leading many people to say Ko has shown his true colors “in support of red [Chinese] media.”
CTiTV News is considered to have a pro-China stance.
An Internet user addressed members of Ko’s Taiwan People’s Party: “This man has changed his political stances so many times, why do you still support him?”
The pro-independence Taiwan Statebuilding Party yesterday said that Ko has ambitions to run for president and is courting voters from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and other pan-blue camp parties.
“Just last month, when asked about political figures using their special privilege to get vaccine shots at Taipei clinics, Ko said that Taiwan will not have peace unless it gets rid of all political talk shows. However, he now endorses CTiTV,” Taiwan Statebuilding Party official Chang Po-yang (張博洋) said.
CTiTV News was repeatedly found to have fabricated news reports and spread rumors, Chang said, giving as an example the false report in 2019 that 2 million tonnes of pomeloes had been dumped into the Tzengwen Reservoir (曾文水庫) in Tainan.
The report insinuated that the Tainan City Government had been negligent in its duties and had not been caring for local farmers. The report came during a legislative election campaign as the KMT vied for control of the local government.
Chang said this is a well-known piece of fabricated news originating from a CTiTV political talk show.
The National Communications Commission later ruled that the report was fabricated news and fined the channel NT$1 million (US$35,823 at the current exchange rate), he added.
“This news network was one of the main sources causing disturbance in Taiwanese society. Now Ko is fully endorsing it. Does this not mean Ko is supporting the spreading of rumors and fake news ?” Chang said.
“Through the years, we have seen very clear that Ko plays politics for his own interests,” he said.
“What is Ko’s core value? The answer is that he would support anything that can cause harm to Taiwan. Ko has no limit as to what he is willing to do,” Chang said, citing Ko’s remark that “the two sides of the [Taiwan] Strait are one family,” his “vilification” of the government’s efforts to obtain vaccines and trying to sabotage Taiwan-US relations.
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