Small political parties yesterday criticized the Central Election Commission (CEC) for allocating them less time than their larger rivals to air legislative election campaign ads on the nation's five non-cable TV channels.
The CEC has decided that the length of time that each political party participating in the legislative elections will be allocated to air campaign ads will be calculated in proportion to each party's number of nominees.
The parties with the most candidates, the Democratic Progressive Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), will each get 15 minutes and 49 seconds of air time per day from Jan. 7 to Jan. 11.
The other 10 parties will only be allowed between one to six minutes of air time.
The Non-Partisan Solidarity Union, with two nominees, will be allowed only 56 seconds of airtime.
Home Party Secretary-General Yao Li-ming (姚立明), Hakka Party Chairman Wen Chin-chuan (溫錦泉) and Green Party Taiwan Secretary-General Pan Han-shen (潘翰聲) were among those who criticized the CEC.
In response, CEC Secretary-General Teng Tien-yu (
Political parties' election campaign advertisements will be broadcast on the Formosa TV, Taiwan Television Enterprise, China Television Co, Chinese Television System and Public Television Service channels.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
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The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,