Errors by Chinese Television System’s (CTS) news channel could hurt the network’s chances of broadcasting on channel 52 on cable systems that are yet to find a replacement for the vacant spot in the news block, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.
“CTS is to undergo a three-yearly performance evaluation in August, and several cable systems have applied to have CTS News and Info air on channel 52,” NCC Deputy Chairman and spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) told reporters at the commission’s weekly news conference. “We would examine the commitments that CTS had made when reviewing the applications filed by cable operators.”
CTS’ operations came under scrutiny after its morning news program on April 20 erroneously ran news tickers about the New Taipei City being hit by guided missiles fired by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
The network was reported to have made at least nine other mistakes in its news programs since then, including misidentifying former vice president Chen Chien-ren (陳建仁) as a former US vice president and misspelling President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) name.
As of Tuesday, the commission had received 36 complaints about CTS, of which 24 were about its performance in its morning news program on April 20, the commission said.
An external content review committee has reviewed some of the network’s errors, Wong said, adding that commissioners would make a final decision on whether the network should be penalized.
Twenty-six cable systems air CTS News and Info on channel 52, nearly 40 percent of the cable service market, NCC data showed.
Kbro Co, TFN Media and three other independent cable system operators have applied to have CTS News and Info broadcast on channel 52, with the NCC yet to approve the requests.
Nine independent cable operators affiliated with Taiwanese media tycoon Lien Tai-sheng (練台生) have applied to have Taiwan Television (TTV) fill the channel 52 spot.
Nine other cable operators have yet to propose any replacement for channel 52 — five from Taiwan Broadcasting Communications, three from Da Feng Co and one independent operator.
The commission in March last year approved Homeplus Digital’s application to have CTS News and Info air on channel 52 on the 12 cable systems it owns after CTi News’ license expired in December 2020.
To secure approval, CTS had pledged to increase the number of employees at its news department from then 160 to 330 by the end of last year and 400 by 2024.
The network also pledged to address financial losses it has accumulated.
National Taiwan University professor of journalism Wang Tai-li (王泰俐), one of the three ombudsmen hired by CTS, investigated the network’s operations after it was criticized for multiple errors in its news programs.
Failure to recruit an adequate number of news department personnel was identified as one of the main reasons that errors repeatedly occurred.
“The network had only managed to raise the number of employees to 260 as of last month, while other news channels on cable have more than 500 employees. There is simply no comparison,” Wang said in her report, which was published online on May 19. “The network has apparently been slow to recruit over the past year.”
A survey conducted by CTS itself said that 36 percent of respondents found the network’s news programs “untrustworthy” after the errors, up from 20 percent before the errors.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
RSS