A proposal to slash the entire budget for the Public Television Service (PTS), including the English-language Taiwan Plus, would ring the death knell for state-funded public broadcasting, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members said yesterday, as ministers warned of other public services that would be affected by the opposition’s proposed cuts.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers on Wednesday submitted a motion to cut NT$2.309 billion (US$70.12 million) from the Ministry of Culture’s budget allocated for PTS and its subsidiary broadcasting services.
Photo: Chung Chih-kai, Taipei Times
PTS operates six television channels, including the PTS main channel, the Hoklo-language (commonly known as Taiwanese) PTS Tai-gi-tai, Taiwan Plus, Hakka TV, PTS Drama and a children’s program channel.
DPP Legislator Wu Pei-Yi (吳沛憶) said the KMT’s motion cited several controversies in Taiwan Plus news reporting from last year and posts by PTS Tai-gi-tai staff on social media chastising KMT politicians.
It also alleged “historical revisionism” in the PTS drama Three Tears in Borneo (聽海湧), which tells the story of Taiwanese soldiers conscripted by Japan during World War II and their encounters with allied prisoners of war, she said.
If the plan is approved, it would shut down all PTS channels, including Taiwan Plus and programs for children, she added.
“After starting three years ago, Taiwan Plus has been doing good work. Its news reports have been used by CNN, BBC, NHK, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera and other international media,” DPP Legislator Jean Kuo (郭昱晴) said.
“Earlier, when legislators reviewed the PTS budget, opposition parties kept criticizing Taiwan Plus, alleging low downloads while ignoring the total of more than 200 million views,” she said. “The KMT does not care that Taiwan Plus is our nation’s first broadcasting platform that is fully in English, presenting news and important content on Taiwan to the international community.”
Advocates from the Taiwan Media Watch Foundation and the Campaign for Media Reform in a statement expressed their “strong protest,” saying that lawmakers should help supervise PTS, as it must not be influenced by business revenue or the interests of groups.
“PTS should have independent funding like that of the NHK and BBC to enable for autonomous operation,” they said. “We support the supervision of PTS, but slashing its entire budget is the wrong way to go about it.”
KMT Legislator Jessica Chen (陳玉珍), a cosponsor of the motion, told reporters that if PTS performs badly, it is legislators’ responsibility to cut the budget.
“We would not shy away from doing so, as legislators have the duty to look after government finances to ensure funds are spent wisely,” she added.
Meanwhile, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said the opposition’s plan to cut NT$200 billion from Taiwan Power Co’s budget would cause the energy supplier to suffer “a big hit.”
As the current budget “effectively subsidizes the entire population,” electricity prices could rise if the cuts are passed, Kuo said, adding that any price increase decision would be determined by the Electricity Price Review Committee.
The Ministry of the Interior criticized potential cuts to its media budget, saying that its current budget only had NT$230 million allocated for anti-fraud messaging for this year, while a single fraud group was found to have spent NT$250 million on advertising scams in just six months.
“The current proposal to cut all funding for anti-fraud media campaigns is tantamount to surrendering to fraud gangs,” Deputy Minister of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said.
Deputy Minister of Justice Hsu Hsi-hsiang (徐錫祥) also said that proposed cuts of NT$12.3 million to the Ministry of Justice’s media budget would harm anti-bribery, anti-narcotic and anti-fraud efforts.
Additionally, Ma warned against a proposed NT$100 million cut to the firefighting budget, stating that the NT$250 million allocated for equipment is essential for reducing risk, and protecting firefighters and citizens.
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