National Communications Commission (NCC) commissioners yesterday reached a unanimous decision to reject CTi News’ (中天新聞台) license renewal application on the grounds that the channel’s frequent contraventions of media regulations showed that it has a malfunctioning internal control mechanism that cannot be rectified.
This was the first time since it was established in 2006 that the commission denied a license renewal to a news channel.
NCC Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) announced the landmark decision at the commission’s weekly media briefing.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The commission denied the renewal request because the news channel was fined a total of NT$11.53 million (US$400,932) for 25 breaches of media regulations between 2014 and this year — significantly more than other news channels, Chen said.
Last year, the commission received 962 consumer complaints regarding the channel’s broadcasting content, which accounted for about 31 percent of all complaints received that year, he said.
Evidence the commission collected at an administrative hearing on Oct. 26, and a meeting between NCC commissioners and CTi News on Nov. 4 showed that the fundamental problem was that the channel’s largest shareholder, Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時集團) founder Tsai Eng-ming (蔡衍明), had directly and indirectly intervened in the news production process.
The channel’s management said it did not have a full-time managing director in the news department for five months in 2018, and that the post was then assumed by Chiu Chia-yu (邱佳瑜), who was Tsai’s special assistant, Chen said, adding that during this time, the channel’s breaches increased.
During the news conference, Chen was bombarded with questions from reporters, particularly by CTi News journalists.
They asked whether the commission was concerned that its ruling would leave the nation with only one political voice.
“Taiwan has freedom of the press, and it has never been reduced to one voice after it became a real democratic country and entered the digital era,” Chen told them.
Asked if the commission is prepared to engage in a legal battle, Chen said that it respects CTi News’ right to seek redress through the judicial system, adding that it is confident that the review process would hold up to scrutiny.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) yesterday extended sympathy to the employees of CTi News, but said that it does not believe the decision infringes on freedom of the press.
In a statement released after the NCC’s decision, RSF said freedom of the press does not mean an absence of oversight.
The group also supported the legitimacy of the NCC’s investigation, saying that a periodic licensure review by an independent agency is standard procedure in democracies.
It also called for the same standards to be applied to applications from media outlets of all political stripes.
The government must take responsibility for the nation’s past and current lack of journalistic ethics and editorial autonomy, the group added.
Reporters are working in an extremely polarized and profit-seeking environment, which affects the people’s right to complete and undistorted information, it said.
No matter what party is in power, RSF called on the government to ensure journalistic integrity.
Additional reporting by Kayleigh Madjar
MEMORIAL SERVICE: President Tsai spoke at a service at Chihhang Air Base to honor captain Chu Kuan-meng, who died after ejecting from his F-5E on Oct. 29 An air force F-16 jet went missing off the east coast of Taiwan last night, and search and recovery operations were ongoing as of press time, the Ministry of National Defense said. The F-16 disappeared from radar screens at 6:07pm 9 nautical miles (17km) northeast of Hualien Air Base, two minutes after taking off from the base as part of a nighttime training exercise, the ministry said. The F-16, serial number 6672, was piloted by Colonel Chiang Cheng-chih (蔣正志), it said. A National Rescue Command Center statement said that a Black Hawk helicopter and Coast Guard Administration vessels had been
SUPPORT: Reporters Without Borders said that it stands behind the legitimacy of the commission’s probe and that press freedom does not mean the absence of oversight National Communications Commission (NCC) commissioners yesterday reached a unanimous decision to reject CTi News’ (中天新聞台) license renewal application on the grounds that the channel’s frequent contraventions of media regulations showed that it has a malfunctioning internal control mechanism that cannot be rectified. This was the first time since it was established in 2006 that the commission denied a license renewal to a news channel. NCC Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) announced the landmark decision at the commission’s weekly media briefing. The commission denied the renewal request because the news channel was fined a total of NT$11.53 million (US$400,932) for 25 breaches of media regulations
AUTUMN STRUGGLE: The KMT and TPP set up stages on the rally’s sidelines, while Want Want boss Tsai Eng-meng said the DPP was curtailing freedom of speech Tens of thousands of people in Taipei yesterday took part in the “Autumn Struggle” (秋鬥) — an annual protest march by labor groups — but with this year’s focus on rejecting the government’s plan to allow imports of US pork containing ractopamine residue. “Against poisonous pork, against double standards, against a party-state,” the protesters, mostly wearing black, chanted in front of the rally’s main stage on Ketagalan Boulevard at about noon, before a parade set off at 2pm. Autumn Struggle spokesperson Lee Chien-cheng (李建誠) said this year’s march was divided into three teams, with the first team urging food safety and labor
An investigation has found no mechanical problems underlying the Tuesday disappearance of an F-16 jet and its pilot, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday, adding that it does not rule out an accident due to “spatial disorientation.” An air force F-16 jet on Tuesday evening disappeared from radar screens, just two minutes after it took off from Hualien Air Base, while the 44-year-old pilot, Colonel Chiang Cheng-chih (蔣正志), has yet to be found. Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) yesterday morning headed to Hualien for updates on the search and rescue, while giving a pep talk to Chiang’s unit,
RSS