A second identical proposal to probe a Mirror News incident was struck down yesterday by the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which voted 5-2 against the New Power Party (NPP) proposal to establish a task force to review documents related to the situation.
Last week, the committee voted 7-5 to reject the motion, which was proposed both times by NPP Legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華). Chinese National Party (KMT) legislators Lu Ming-che (魯明哲) and Fu Kun-chi seconded yesterday’s motion.
The motion said that Mirror News was permitted to submit supporting documents in its bid to establish a new news channel 30 times before securing a broadcasting license in January.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The National Communications Committee approved Mirror News’ application, despite objections by two of its commissioners, it said.
Mirror Magazine publisher Pei Wei (裴偉) received a monthly consulting fee from Mirror News, breaking a promise not to hold any position at Mirror News, it said.
It also accused Mirror News’ management of paying two former NCC officials to secure the license.
All of these issues should be investigated by a task force, which would allow lawmakers access to all of the documents related to the situation, it said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said that were the motion to pass, it would be counterproductive for those who backed it.
Were a task force to be established, only its members would be allowed access to the documents, Liu said.
“You can only access the documents for a specific period, during which transcribing or recording in any form is prohibited,” she said. “Moreover, the committee would not be able to propose any related motions following a document review.”
“Given the controversy of the situation, the documents should be made public, not solely available to lawmakers on a task force,” she said.
NCC Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) said that the Transportation Committee has verbatim minutes of the meeting of NCC commissioners pertaining to the Mirror Media approval.
However, the motion mentions people and events that the commission does not have information about, Chen said, adding that it must investigate those aspects.
“I am afraid that a task force would not achieve what the motion seeks,” he said, adding that the commission exercises its powers independently and would disclose information it receives to the extent that it is permissible.
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