The CTi News has received a boost to its online presence, a senior executive of the channel said yesterday, as it prepares to shift its focus to the Internet after the expiration of its broadcasting licence.
The National Communications Commission (NCC) last month said that it would not renew CTi’s license, citing evidence of interference from a tycoon with major business interests in China, amid fears of Beijing’s efforts to win support among Taiwanese.
CTi’s major shareholder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), also runs one of China’s largest food firms, Want Want China Holdings.
Photo: Ann Wang, REUTERS
The company and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have denounced the regulator’s decision not to renew the license as censorship aimed at silencing voices critical of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Tsai and her government have rejected that, saying that the decision was made by an independent body and was not subject to interference.
Cti News department chief director Liang Tien-hsia (梁天俠) said that the channel would keep broadcasting, but online, and that its YouTube channel had gained about 440,000 new subscribers in the past few weeks, taking its tally to 1.7 million.
Photo: Lin Liang-sheng, Taipei Times
“We’ve been forced to become new media. Doubtless this is a big challenge, but everyone has prepared themselves psychologically,” Liang said, adding that the channel is looking at Instagram and Facebook as other areas for development.
The channel is due to go off air at midnight today, although it has lodged an appeal to stop this.
CTi began operations in 1994 and is by many seen as being pro-China or “red media,” a reference to the Chinese Communist Party.
Liang said that this was a “malicious” accusation, and that the channel took neither instructions nor money from Beijing.
“I’ve been at CTi for a long time, and as a senior executive in the news department. I’ve never come under any pressure from China or [its] Taiwan Affairs Office on what news to report or not report,” he said.
In related news, representatives of the National Policy Foundation and KMT legislators yesterday wore black ribbons to “mourn press freedom.”
KMT Legislator Lee Guei-min (李貴敏) told a news conference that the NCC not only broke its obligation to remain independent, but also its founding mission in severe contravention of the law.
Additional reporting by CNA
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
NEW WORLD: Taiwan is pursuing innovative approaches to international relations through economics, trade and values-based diplomacy, the foreign minister said Taiwan would implement a “three-chain strategy” that promotes democratic values in response to US tariffs, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said. Taiwan would aim to create a “global democratic value chain,” seek to capitalize on its position within the first island chain and promote a “non-red supply chain,” Lin was quoted as saying in the ministry’s written report to the Legislative Yuan submitted ahead of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting slated for today. The Ministry would also uphold a spirit of mutual beneficial collaboration, maintaining close communication and consultations with Washington to show that Taiwan-US cooperation
RSS