The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said it is inviting San Want Holdings Ltd chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), the largest shareholder of CTi News (中天新聞), to attend an administrative hearing on the news channel’s license renewal application on Monday next week.
NCC Commissioner Hsiao Chi-hung (蕭祈宏) is to preside over the hearing, alongside NCC commissioners Wang Wei-ching (王維菁) and Lin Li-yun (林麗雲), it said.
“We fully respect San Want’s right to have an attorney represent them at the hearing. However, as the hearing would tackle many practical issues concerning the management and operation of the news channel, we feel that Mr Tsai would be the best person to attend the hearing, as he would have the most profound and comprehensive understanding on the direction that the news channel is heading and other relevant information,” the commission said in a statement.
Photo: Yang Mien-chieh, Taipei Times
“As the media regulator, we would also like to use this opportunity to forge a dialogue with media outlets and talk about how we can better facilitate people’s participation in public affairs. As such, we sincerely invite Mr Tsai to attend the administrative hearing in person and make a dialogue between the government and media outlets possible,” it added.
CTi News is part of the Want Want China Times Media Group, which was formed after Tsai’s Want Want Holdings Ltd purchased the China Times Group in 2008. Its license is set to expire by the end of this year.
The commission last month announced that it would hold an administrative hearing to help it review its license renewal application, the first time that it would hold such a hearing.
The commission’s decision is widely believed to be related to the channel’s performance in the past four years, during which it has accumulated NT$10.73 million (US$370,870) in fines for contravening media regulations.
The commission’s extension of a personal invitation to Tsai took many by surprise, as it had never issued an official statement on inviting specific people to attend administrative hearings, but had normally left it to the discretion of the parties involved.
However, some see the commission’s announcement as a strategic move, after the Chinese-language China Times — another member of the Want Want China Times Media Group — on Wednesday last week began special coverage of CTi News’ license renewal application.
The newspaper yesterday dedicated a full page to stories critical of the NCC and its decision to hold a hearing.
The commission said that it is Tsai’s right, but not an obligation, to attend the hearing.
His absence at the hearing will neither affect the effectiveness of the hearing nor harm the interests of the parties involved, it said.
The NCC further defended its decision to hold a hearing by citing Article No. 10 of the National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) and the Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法), which authorizes the commission to convene public hearings to help it review administrative orders, plans and dispositions concerning public interests.
Parties involved in the case as well as relevant stakeholders would be asked to submit written statements before the hearing, the administration said, adding that it would also broadcast the entire hearing online on Monday.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS