The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday asked the management of Da Ai TV to come to its offices in Taipei to answer questions, as it reviews the network’s application to renew its license.
The network, which is funded by the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, applied to renew its license as it expires on April 14, the commission said.
The commission said that it has convened an independent committee of experts in media and other fields to review the application.
After closely examining the network’s performance since it obtained its license in 2014, the committee has identified two main issues and needs the network’s management to explain them in detail, it said.
First, the network abruptly terminated the broadcast of its self-produced television series Jiachang’s Heart (智子之心) after airing two episodes in 2018 on May 10 and May 11, the commission said, adding that the move resulted in 48 consumer complaints.
Second, the network’s handling of the news concerning the foundation’s request to set up a logistics center and a factory on a 4.4 hectare plot in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) in 2015 represented a clear conflict of interest, the commission said.
NCC commissioners considered a recommendation from the committee and yesterday ruled that Da Ai TV must send its management to the commission to explain how the network plans to address the two issues, the commission said.
Jiachang’s Heart, which tells the story of the foundation volunteer Lin Chih-hui (林智惠), was reportedly canceled due to online criticism from Chinese, who said that it “romanticized” the 1937-1945 Second Sino-Japanese War.
Lin served as a military nurse for Japan in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China, during the war.
The NCC launched an administrative investigation into the matter after receiving complaints from viewers.
Da Ai TV executives initially conceded in a meeting with commissioners that the network was negligent for canceling the series without notifying the public in advance, saying that their decisionmaking process was rash.
They later reversed their position, saying that it canceled the TV series “for fear that certain imagery could trigger altercations between different ethnic groups, which goes against the network’s founding purpose to promote social harmony.”
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