The National Communications Commission (NCC) is considering lawsuits against three Chinese-language news firms — the China Times, Taiwan People’s News and Storm Media — over their accusations about commission officials, who they said were acting unethically when reviewing a broadcasting license application from Mirror News, NCC Deputy Chairman and spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.
The motion to sue the three media outlets was proposed during a weekly commissioners’ meeting on May 18 by NCC Commissioner Hsiao Chi-hung (蕭啟宏), one of the officials accused of helping Mirror News obtain a broadcasting license in January.
The commission should pursue legal actions against the three outlets, whose “twisted, malicious and untruthful” reporting has damaged the reputation of the NCC, Hsiao told the meeting.
Photo: CNA
The motion was supported by commissioners Teng Wei-chung (鄧惟中), Yeali Sun (孫雅麗), Lin Lih-yun (林麗雲) and Wang Wei-ching (王維菁).
Commission Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥), who presided over the meeting, decided that the NCC would take action pending an analyses by its legal affairs department.
It would be the NCC’s first lawsuit against media firms.
“Reports from these media outlets have smeared the NCC by turning the Mirror News case into a scandal,” Hsiao told the Taipei Times in a telephone interview. “The commission voted five to two to approve Mirror News’ license application, and yet they reported that it was approved four to three.”
“These media outlets also reported that Mirror News was able to obtain the license because it hired former NCC secretary-general Wu Chia-hui (吳嘉輝) as its consultant. Wu has been retired from the NCC for more than 10 years and was legally hired as a consultant by Mirror News,” Hsiao said.
Wu knows many NCC officials personally, but the reports by the three outlets implied that Hsiao was Wu’s only acquaintance at the agency and that he had undue concerns over the case, the commissioner added.
“This is outrageous,” Hsiao said.
Wong told the NCC’s weekly news conference on Wednesday that the legal affairs department was assessing the feasibility of legal action.
“While we respect the freedom of the press, we also think that defending the reputation of the NCC and its commissioners is important,” he said, adding that the commission would resume discussions after the legal affairs department has presented its results.
A source familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that the NCC is unlikely to file lawsuits against the outlets.
Some coverage of the NCC was “over the top,” the source said.
“However, issuing an official statement to explain what happened and clarify all the misunderstandings is one thing, suing media companies is another. NCC staff are not likely to recommend that the commission pursue legal action against them, which would be a foolish thing to do,” they said.
The proper course of action would be for Hsiao to personally sue the companies, although the result might not be what he is hoping for, the source said.
Should Hsiao sue the outlets, it would generate publicity for them, they said.
“The bottom line is how many people are aware of or still remember the controversies involving Mirror News,” the source said.
Some of the statements critical of the NCC that the three outlets cited were from opposition lawmakers who were trying to turn the case into a scandal, the source said.
They wanted to create an image of themselves as whistle-blowers, they said.
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