Talk show host Lee Tao (
"I am sorry for the mistake made by [TVBS] reporters and believe I should take full responsibility for it," Lee said in a statement.
"Please give the TVBS news team one more chance to correct the mistake ... Let them prove to you their determination to pursue quality news," Lee said.
"I hope that my resignation will stop some politicians and the media from raging and seeking revenge against TVBS," he added.
TVBS' board of directors also issued an official statement yesterday that it had grudgingly approved Lee's resignation.
"The National Communications Commission's [NCC] resolution asking us to replace the station's general manager may involve some legal issues, and we reserve the right to file a lawsuit against this injustice," the statement said.
Lee's position will temporarily be filled by Lin Chia-hsin (
Li Siduan (
Stations fined
The announcement came after the commission issued a ruling last week that TVBS and TVBS-N would each be penalized NT$1 million (NT$30,200) for mishandling the gangster footage broadcast last week.
The commission also asked the stations to replace the company's general manager and deputy general manager for failing to control news quality and to act in a responsible manner.
Controversies surrounding the NCCs ruling were also the focus of a question-and-answer session at the legislature's Sci-tech and Information Committee yesterday.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuo Chun-ming (
Kuo also asked NCC chairman Su Yeong-chin (
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lwo Shih-hsiung (
"The commission has apparently overextended its authority in this regard," Lwo said.
In response, Su said he had no plan to resign any time soon, adding that the NCC had no intention of making any changes to its ruling.
He added that the commission would offer a more detailed and thorough explanation of the ruling to the public today.
Su reiterated that the resolution does not target any specific person, including Lee Tao.
He said the commission has the authority to ask TVBS to replace its managers, but it would not ask who they must choose to fill these positions.
"The TVBS incident is a very special case in the history of Taiwan's journalism," Su said.
"It is more appropriate to handle it as an isolated case rather than some precedent-setting principle," he added.
Infractions
When asked about the Cabinet's planned release of a report on the NCC's 10 major infractions, Su said he only knew of 10 questions that the Cabinet had asked in regard to the commission's operations and its members' conduct.
The questions include whether commissioners Wu Chung-chi (吳忠吉), Jimmy Hsieh (謝進男) and Liu Zong-de (劉宗德) have held other government positions, or whether commissioners Lee Tsu-yuan (李祖源) and Liu Yu-li (劉幼琍) may have a conflict of interest in reviewing the cases of China Television Co and Broadcasting Corporation of China.
The commission has sent formal replies to these questions to the Cabinet, he said.
also see story:
Executive Yuan to release NCC report in the near future
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS