The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that it would temporarily suspend ruling on new cases involving content by broadcast media due to a lack of media experts on the commission, but it would continue to accept complaints from the public over content that might have contravened broadcast media regulations.
Of the four NCC commissioners whose terms expired on Wednesday last week, Lin Li-yun (林麗雲) and Wang Wei-ching (王維菁) were the only two with backgrounds in journalism and communications.
On the last day of their term, Lin and Wang in a statement said that the remaining four commissioners, including NCC Acting Chairman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗), have backgrounds in telecommunications, laws and economics, but there are no media experts on the commission.
Photo: Tsai Ssu-pei, Taipei Times
As a result, the commission would lack professionalism, and face legitimacy and representation issues when it reviews cases involving broadcast media, they said.
The commission spends the majority of its time deliberating content produced by broadcast media, but any case deliberated and ruled by a commission without media experts would only lead to confusion and chaos, they added.
“As the commission lacks communication experts, it would temporarily put aside the review of content produced by broadcast media. We will wait until new NCC commissioners take office and let them decide how they want to rule on the cases after considering the suggestions from an independent content review committee,” NCC Chief Secretary and acting spokesman Huang Wen-che (黃文哲) told a news conference.
However, the commission would continue to accept complaints from the public over TV channels’ content, he said.
While the commission suspends reviews of new cases, it must — in accordance with the three-year statute of limitations required by the Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法) — decide on seven cases that have been waiting for a decision since 2021, he added.
“The commissioners would be accused of negligence if they fail to make a decision over these cases. They would review them next week,” he said.
All seven cases involved improper product placement in TV programs, said the commission’s Department of Broadcasting and Content senior specialist Chen Chin-shuan (陳金霜).
“These cases involve paid advertisements in the form of product placement, and the administrative processes regarding the review of them have not been completed. They have been reviewed by members of an independent content review committee, but the reviews have not been approved by the NCC,” Chen said.
The seven cases do not include one involving Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Policy Research and Coordinating Committee director Wang Yi-chuan (王義川), Chen added.
Wang in a talk show said that his party can use mobile phone data to analyze the ages of participants in the “Bluebird movement” rallies, protests held against legislative reform bills that would greatly expand the power of the legislature.
The commission said that it received 12 complaints about the program.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party have opposed the appointment of NCC candidates nominated by the Executive Yuan and blocked the review of their qualifications.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) has assigned Wong to serve as acting chairman to keep the commission functioning.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
‘LEADERS’: The report highlighted C.C. Wei’s management at TSMC, Lisa Su’s decisionmaking at AMD and the ‘rock star’ status of Nvidia’s Huang Time magazine on Thursday announced its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI), which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰). The list is divided into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers. Wei and Huang were named in the Leaders category. Other notable figures in the Leaders category included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Su was listed in the Innovators category. Time highlighted Wei’s
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
RSS