More than 500 Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) supporters last night gathered outside the National Communications Commission’s (NCC) offices in Taipei to protest the regulator’s inaction on SET TV’s alleged illegal investment in the multiple systems operator Homeplus Digital.
Protesters also accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of intervening in the establishment of the Mirror News channel.
The TPP earlier said that television news channels were aligned with the DPP or the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and are used to attack political rivals.
Photo: Ting Yi, Taipei Times
It said that EBC News only broadcast positive coverage of KMT presidential candidate New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and his running mate, Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), while SET News broadcast predominantly positive coverage of DPP presidential candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德) and his running mate, former representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴).
TPP legislator-at-large candidate Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), who organized the rally, said he protested in the same spot in 2012 against the NCC for allowing big corporations to control news media and impede free speech.
The situation has worsened nearly 12 years later, he said.
Photo: Wang Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
“I want to ask the DPP if the news media have really been freed from the influence of the government, political parties and the military. In the past, you opposed the KMT’s intervention in the news media. Just look at what you have become after you are in power,” he said.
Even though it has a majority in the legislature, the DPP could not even pass a bill against media monopolization, he added.
He also said the NCC has done nothing about SET TV’s investment in Homeplus Digital.
Huang played an alleged recording of Mirror Media founder Pei Wei (裴偉) saying that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had instructed former DPP secretary general Hung Yao-fu (洪耀福) to tell NCC Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) to grant Mirror News a broadcasting license.
“The DPP seems to think it can do whatever it wants now that it controls the news media, and that is even worse than the KMT,” he said.
The NCC said in a statement that broadcast media should follow the principle of equality and verify facts when reporting election-related news, while abiding by election laws.
In other news, TPP Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Monday evening urged his supporters younger than 20, who cannot vote, to tell their parents and grandparents to vote for him.
“Although you cannot vote yet, with the Internet, your ability to receive information and think critically might not be a loss for adults,” he wrote online in a post titled “Decide your own future, persuade your family to vote.”
“Even though you cannot vote, you can still make a big impact by discussing the election with your dad, mom, grandpa and grandma,” he said.
Ko also announced on Facebook that his YouTube channel reached 1 million subscribers at 5:43pm on Monday.
He is the first Taiwanese politician to have a YouTube channel with more than 1 million subscribers.
Additional reporting by Lee I-chia
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