National Communications Commission (NCC) Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) yesterday denied accusations that he had asked members of a preliminary review committee to approve the application of Mirror Media (精鏡傳媒) to establish a news channel, Mirror TV.
Chen made the remarks in response to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Mong-kai (洪孟楷) at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee.
“I was not in the meeting when the preliminary review committee approved the bid, nor did I ask committee members to do so. The allegation was clearly from someone who sought to influence public opinion,” Chen said.
The NCC launched an internal investigation after one committee member reported that internal communication on their opinion about Taiwan Optical Platform’s application to establish a TV news channel was leaked to the media.
“We had completed the investigation and reported the findings to all members of the review committee on Friday last week, [at a meeting during which] they approved Mirror Media’s application to establish Mirror TV,” Chen said.
Chen also denied claims that he had said the review of Mirror Media’s application should be suspended until after the investigation was concluded.
Asked by Hung and New Power Party Legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) to disclose the details of the investigation, NCC Department of Broadcasting and Content Affairs Director Huang Wen-che (黃文哲) said that such information should remain confidential until NCC commissioners issue a final ruling, citing regulations governing the operations of the preliminary review committee.
The NCC found no evidence that someone within the body might have leaked the information to the media, he added.
NCC officials said that the Mirror TV bid would be forwarded to commissioners, who would start working on it later this month.
The Transportation Committee also passed a motion requiring the NCC to submit minutes of all commissioners meetings in which Mirror Media’s application was discussed within one week of a final ruling.
Mirror Media’s plan to establish Mirror TV came under close scrutiny as the commission has not approved a news channel for nearly 10 years.
Among the moves that drew criticism were Mirror Media’s plan to retain National Chengchi University adjunct professor Weng Shieu-chi (翁秀琪) as a full-time ombudsman to monitor the quality of news broadcasts at Mirror TV and Mirror Media chairman Pei Wei’s (裴偉) resignation from the post of Mirror TV chairman.
The moves were believed to be in response to NCC concerns that the company would use the channel to broadcast tabloid-like content similar to that of its Mirror Magazine.
Criticism also focused on the investors behind Mirror TV, as the channel’s board of directors would mostly be staffed with celebrities and media professionals who do not hold a stake in the company.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS