Taiwan’s main pro-China news channel, the 26-year-old Zhongtian News Channel, officially went off the air at 00:00 on December 12. The station’s application for license renewal was rejected by Taiwan’s National Communication Commission (NCC) for repeatedly violating the law but failing to make corrections as required. The Taipei High Administrative Court and the Supreme Administrative Court have also rejected CTS’s “claim” appeal.
According to Taiwan media reports, this is the first time since the NCC was established in 2006 that the NCC has rejected a TV station’s application for a license renewal, and NCC chairman Chen Yao-xiang held a press conference on November 18 to announce that the seven members of the committee had unanimously decided to reject the application and not renew the license.
Chen Yaoxiang said the reason is that the station has clear evidence of violations. He said the NCC received more than 920 complaints against CTS News last year, accounting for about one-third of the total number of complaints against all news channels in Taiwan.
Two professors of journalism and mass communication at the NCC said CTS News had “very serious self-discipline problems” and had failed to make the required corrections after repeated violations.
According to Reuters, Chen did not mention the station’s specific pro-China bias, but said the biggest problem was the impact of outside interference on news production and broadcasting.
CTS News has been fined about NT$10 million by the NCC, Taiwan’s top authority for telecommunications and radio and television, for “not fact-checking” in the past two years, accused of lacking professionalism, publishing inaccurate news, deliberately manipulating political trends, and even obstructing Taiwan’s freedom of the press. CTS News was also accused of taking a stance in favor of the Chinese Communist Party.
Previously, Taiwan Central News Agency reported that in response to the NCC’s rejection of CTS News’ application for license renewal, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a longtime press freedom concern, expressed its deep regret for the affected employees, but argued that the NCC resolution did not involve infringement of press freedom.
RSF began by saying that freedom of the press does not mean no regulation at all, and that relevant regulation and democratic control are needed for it to be effective and not abused.
CTS is a satellite television station in Taiwan, which is part of the Want China Group. It has three channels in Taiwan, CTS News, CTS General and CTS Entertainment, and two channels outside of Taiwan, CTS Asia and CTS North America. CTS News’ license is valid for six years and expires on December 11 this year. Only the news station is affected this time. However, its original news programs will be moved to the live channel of social media platform YouTube.
The biggest shareholder of Zhongtian TV is Taiwan’s Want Want Group, whose business mainly comes from mainland China. According to information, Tsai arrived in China in 1992 and runs the Hong Kong-listed Want Want China Holdings Limited, with 90 percent of its capital and property income coming from mainland China. The Want Want Group bought CTV, CTS, China Times and Business Times, and renamed CTS Group as Want Want China Times Media Group.
Want Want Group Chairman Tsai Eng-Ming had earlier denied receiving financial subsidies from the Chinese mainland, and also denied allegations of interference in the press.
Taiwan’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang, said it opposed the decision to deny CTS News’ application for a license renewal because it could have a “chilling effect that would seriously affect press freedom.
Recent Comments