The campaign office of Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday accused television news channels of being associated with either the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and that they have become a weapon to attack political rivals.
Showing a statistics table complied during prime time (8pm to 10pm) from Wednesday to Friday last week, TPP legislator at-large candidate Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said that EBC News promoted KMT presidential candidate New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and his running mate, Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), the most, and hardly even mentioned Ko or his running mate, Cynthia Wu (吳欣盈).
In those three days, EBC News broadcast eight positive stories on the Hou-Jaw ticket, three stories — two positive and one negative — on DPP presidential candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德) and his running mate, Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), and only one negative story about the Ko-Wu team, the table showed.
Photo: Huang Tzu-yang, Taipei Times
EBC News on Wednesday even ran a story directly praising Hou and spent 2 minutes, 45 seconds reporting about him, while there were no stories at all about Ko, Huang said.
He also said that SET News (三立新聞) has become an attacker for the DPP, with the table showing that on Thursday and Friday last week the news channel broadcast 21 stories — 13 negative and eight neutral — on the Hou-Jaw ticket, 16 stories — 13 positive and three neutral — on the Lai-Hsiao ticket, and only six stories — two positive, two negative and two neutral — about the Ko-Wu ticket.
On Friday, SET News spent 22 minutes, 31 seconds reporting on negative news about the DPP’s political rivals, Huang said.
He said that the channels have breached Article 46 of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法) — which stipulates that TV channels should treat all the candidates in a fair and just manner.
TPP legislator-at-large candidate Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), Ko’s campaign manager, said many news stories about the TPP had been blocked by the media outlet’s editors.
The TPP ran a crowdfunding campaign to run an ad on EBC News, but was told that the advertising agency on Nov. 8 last year received a call from the TV station saying that its management had instructed it not to accept it, she said.
She also said that property developer Chang Kao-hsiang (張高祥), the owner of EBC News, had in March last year offered her three options — to become Hou’s running mate, run in the New Taipei City mayoral by-election if Hou steps down or become a minister.
EBC News said it would not respond to false accusations.
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
RSS