Public Television Service (PTS), Chinese Television System (CTS) and Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC) have all pledged to produce objective, fair and thorough news coverage of campaigns for next month’s presidential and legislative elections in accordance with government regulations, despite some people with top positions at the networks being candidates, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.
BCC chairman and general manager Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) has registered as the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) vice presidential candidate, while PTS board director Karen Hsu (徐瑞希) has been nominated as a legislator-at-large by the Taiwan People’s Party. Hsu also oversees CTS on behalf of PTS.
The commission on Wednesday last week contacted the three networks, asking them to explain within a week how they plan to abide by the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法), the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and the Enforcement Rules of the Radio and Television Act (廣播電視法施行細則), and ensure that they treat all political parties and their candidates equally.
Photo: Chen Hsin-yu, Taipei Times
The commission said it had received official responses from all three by yesterday afternoon.
“They said they would obey laws and are committed to producing news about the elections in an objective, accurate, fair and just manner,” the commission said.
The BCC said that it would keep the pledges it had made on June 25, 2007, to the commission and ensure that its news coverage is not influenced by the government, political parties or the military, the NCC said.
The BCC’s news department does not take instructions from its management, nor has management interfered in the news department’s operations, it said.
Jaw’s positions at the BCC have been temporarily assumed by BCC board trustee Chen Sheng-yi (陳聖一), while PTS and CTS said that Hsu resigned from its board on Friday last week, the commission said.
Separately, broadcast media and cable systems might soon be asked by major shareholders to report any share transactions following proposed amendments to broadcasting laws, the NCC said.
The issue came under scrutiny after three of Homeplus Digital’s major shareholders sold their shares — nearly 50 percent of all shares — to Sanlih Entertainment Television (SET TV) chairman Chang Rong-hua (張榮華).
Homeplus failed to abide by one of the pledges it made in 2018 when the commission approved the sale of the multiple system operator to its current management, which bans its shareholders from operating news channels, the NCC said.
Homeplus was given one year to rectify the situation, it said.
The NCC is still deliberating the penalties for SET TV and Homeplus, NCC Vice Chairman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) said.
The commission would propose two main bills next year, including an Internet audiovisual service draft act, as well as amendments to the Radio and Television Act (廣播電視法), the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法) and the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法), Wong said.
The amendments would ensure that regulations are consistent with one another, he said.
For example, “although the Satellite Broadcasting Act requires cable news channels to verify facts before airing programs, the Radio and Television Act does not require terrestrial news channels to abide by the same requirement,” he said.
“To address controversies involving Homeplus, our legal experts are to study whether transparency in the shareholding structure should be listed as an important requirement for cable system operators in the Cable Radio and Television Act,” Wong said.
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