The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that it has received 32 complaints about media personality Clara Chou (周玉蔻) after she made accusations about former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice chairman John Chiang (蔣孝嚴) in a political TV show aired by Formosa News.
Chou accused Chiang, the father of KMT Taipei Mayoral Candidate Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), of having had an extramarital affair with Miss Republic of China 1988 Chang Shu-chuang (張淑娟) about 20 years ago.
Chang on Monday filed an aggravated defamation lawsuit against Chou at the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office. Chou appeared at the office at the same time, saying she wanted to apologize to Chang.
Photo: Screengrab from Parliment TV
In a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday, KMT Legislator Lee De-wei (李德維) asked NCC Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) whether the commission would hold Formosa News accountable for allowing Chou to “humiliate” Chang on the air.
“Taiwan is a free and democratic country, and we will not censor what a news channel should or should broadcast before the program is aired. However, we will review the aired content to determine if it contravened broadcast regulations,” Chen said.
“We are investigating the complaints to determine if Formosa News failed to verify the authenticity of the content before it was aired and abide by the principle of fairness, as per Article 27 of the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法),” he said.
“We will also determine if the content disrupted public order and contravened other legal prohibitions,” he added.
KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said in a campaign rally that the Democratic Progressive Party has been using the media and media personalities to attack the KMT.
“As politicians, we should endure these malicious attacks. However, Chang is an innocent victim of this attack,” he said.
In other news, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told the plenary session that neither he nor President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had pressured the NCC to approve a broadcast license application by Mirror News.
Su made the remarks after New Power Party Chairwoman Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) played a conversation allegedly recorded during a shareholders’ meeting on Dec. 17 last year, in which then-Mirror News chairman Pei Wei (裴偉) told shareholders that Su had met with Chen Yaw-shyang and former DPP secretary-general Hung Yao-fu (洪耀福) to talk about the Mirror News case.
Hung was entrusted to carry the message from the Presidential Office, Pei told shareholders.
Su told Chen Jiau-hua that his one-on-one conversation with Tsai has been polite and would not speak in a manner resembling that in the recorded conversation.
He also denied knowing Pei well, having called him in person or having received a phone call from Tsai about approving the Mirror News case.
Su said he was not sure if the voice in the recording belonged to Pei.
Chen Jiau-hua told a news conference in the afternoon that the voice belonged to Pei.
“I am willing to bet Su that it is Pei’s voice and would have a third party authenticate the recorded conversation,” she said. “I also urge Mirror News to file a lawsuit against me so that I can disclose the entire conversation and call all shareholders attending the meeting to the witness stand.”
‘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