The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday urged the news media to use named, reliable sources when covering the vote count for the presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 13, and said that Central Election Commission (CEC) data must be displayed.
The commission’s comments came hours after academics called on news channels to make better use of the CEC’s information when reporting the vote count, citing missteps by television news channels in 2016.
Media companies would be expected to name the sources they use in stories about the count, said Chen Chin-shuan (陳金霜), a senior specialist at the NCC Department of Broadcasting and Content.
Photo: Ting Yi, Taipei Times
The media are reminded to use dependable sources for their live vote counts and to verify the figures being reported, he said.
News channels are allowed to make numerical typos if an effort is made to correct mistakes in a timely manner, while other election-related controversies or problems would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, Chen said.
NCC representatives, election officials and media firms have met to clarify the ground rules for live coverage of the vote count as a matter of routine before an election, he added.
Commission officials would be in the CEC’s response center to handle incidents stemming from innacurate reports, NCC Vice Chairman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.
The CEC is the agency responsible for enforcing election rules, and the NCC would play a subordinate role on election day, he said.
Separately, Wong said that the NCC is eyeing submissions by 63 cable network providers to replace the five channels operated by the Disney Pacific Group, which recently said that it would be exiting the Taiwanese market.
The channels Disney would soon vacate include Star Chinese Channel and Star Chinese Movies, meaning that Chinese-language channels that emphasize domestic content would be favored, Wong said.
The quotas for domestically produced, financed or themed content have been communicated to the firms that are interested, he said.
Network providers should submit their proposals before Feb. 29, NCC officials said.
Dragon Art MBC Variety, Catchplay Movies, South Korea-based KMTV, NextTV Variety and Rock Action are the replacement channels most frequently proposed by networks, they added.
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