The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday reported that it received complaints about the media’s coverage of the killing of two Tainan police officers, with some saying that suspects’ faces should not be blurred on television.
The complaints came after local TV stations aired leaked pictures of two possible suspects for stabbing the two police officers to death on Monday, both surname Chen (陳), with their faces being blurred out. However, the police later identified the wanted man as Lin Hsin-wu (林信吾).
Despite the correction, people online quickly located personal information about one of the people earlier named by police.
The NCC said that it received complaints saying that some TV stations should not have blurred the face of the suspect to help the police in their nationwide search for Lin.
One complaint said that TV stations should always blur out a suspect’s face to maintain the secrecy of a criminal investigation and protect the right of suspects, it said.
The news ethics guidelines of the Satellite Television Broadcasting Association, whose members include all major television channels in Taiwan, state that broadcast news stations must consider the rights of suspects when interviewing, reporting and commenting on them based on the presumption of innocence, and ensure that viewers are aware of that, said Chen Chin-shuan (陳金霜), a senior specialist at the Department of Broadcasting and Content.
Broadcast news should observe the principle of nondisclosure of police investigations, and their reports on crime should prioritize information released by authorities, she said.
“The association should rethink what they should do in similar situations in the future,” Chen Chin-shuan said.
Separately, the NCC said it has no fixed timeline to finalize its draft digital intermediary act, which it proposed to handle issues such as nonconsensual photo sharing, Internet fraud and disinformation, among other issues.
The commission is to discuss the details of the draft with the Ministry of Digital Development, which is to be launched on Saturday, it said.
On Tuesday, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that the Cabinet would not push the passage of the act if no consensus was reached, after various groups raised concerns that the bill was a burden to implement and could impede online speech freedoms.
“We have heard diverse opinions from various stakeholders through the three information sessions held in the past two weeks,” NCC Deputy Chairman and spokesman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said. “Many of them said that the definition of digital intermediary service providers is unclear, and they were not sure whether they would be regulated by the draft act. We would need to examine, study and analyze any relevant controversies, which would take some time.”
The Taiwan Internet and E-Commerce Association, Taiwan Digital Media and Marketing Association, Digital Economy Association Taiwan and Professional Technology Temple bulletin board system told the commission that the draft act would increase the compliance costs once implemented.
Legal experts say the bill should more clearly detail rules governing data retrieval and the establishment of a specialized agency to coordinate issues of Internet governance.
The conditions under which agencies can apply for an information restraining order and request to have an alert placed next to a message online should also be clarified, experts say.
Controversies generated by the draft act showed that the commission failed to adequately assess how the act would affect freedom of speech and online platform operators, Wong said.
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