The Executive Yuan on Tuesday assigned Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) to serve as acting chairman of the National Communications Commission (NCC) after the Legislative Yuan last month approved amendments to the National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家傳訊傳播委員會組織法) that would remove clauses allowing a chairperson to extend their term.
Wong’s term as NCC vice chairman ended yesterday, as did the terms of Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) as chairman, and Lin Li-yun (林麗雲) and Wang Wei-ching (王維菁) as commissioners.
Executive Yuan spokesman Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) yesterday said that as half of the NCC committee concluded their terms simultaneously, the Executive Yuan appointed Wong as acting chairman according to articles 4 and 5 of the act.
Photo: Tsai Si-pei, Taipei Times
Wong is taking over “in full accordance with the law” and the Executive Yuan was not “appointing” him to the position, Chen said.
Lin and Wang called for the reviews of NCC committee members to be expedited, citing concerns that the remaining members lack a professional aptitude and could err in their review of media-related incidents.
The remaining members are professionals in telecommunications, law and economics, but there are no broadcasting media experts among them, they said.
Competition between media firms has led to news channels relying on government contracts, a situation that has further polarized news channels on either side of the political spectrum and undermined the credibility of the fourth estate, they said.
Mainstream media are beginning to lose out against Internet sources, they added.
The NCC is obligated to oversee the media, and should institute measures to assess and control competition among media groups, Lin and Wang said.
Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said that the spirit of the law, despite the amendments not having been promulgated, was clearly to stop NCC committee members from repeatedly having their appointments extended.
The Executive Yuan’s argument that the amendments have not yet taken effect are unacceptable, Huang said.
Wong’s appointment as acting chairman was questionable, Huang added, citing Wong’s involvement in allegedly leaking classified secrets when reviewing TV channel license applications.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus member Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said that the Executive Yuan’s actions did not “disrespect” the legislature, as they observed proper legal procedure.
DPP Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) said the legislature should expedite review of the NCC committee member nominees so that it could operate at full strength as soon as possible.
Lai added that hopefully there would be an extraordinary meeting this month to achieve that goal.
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