TAIWAN: Taiwan on Wednesday refused to renew the licence of a channel widely seen as pro-China citing interference from a Beijing-friendly tycoon, amid China’s attempts to win support on the island.
Taiwan’s government has repeatedly said China has stepped up efforts, including a media campaign, to infiltrate and gain influence on the democratic island.
The CTi news current broadcast license is valid until December 11 and the license renewal rejection will force the channel to cease operations by that date, Xinhua reported.
TV channels in Taiwan are required to renew their licenses every six years. The regulatory agency–National Communications Commission–claimed that CTi News had repeatedly violated regulations, received an increasing number of complaints from viewers, and failed to exercise professionalism and impose an effective internal control mechanism.
NCC Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang announced the landmark decision at the commission’s weekly media briefing, reported Taipei Times.
Evidence the commission collected at an administrative hearing on October 26, and a meeting between NCC commissioners and CTi News on November 4 showed that the fundamental problem was that the channel’s largest shareholder, Want Want China Times Media Group founder Tsai Eng-ming, had, directly and indirectly, intervened in the news production process.
“Taiwan has freedom of the press, and it has never been reduced to one voice after it became a real democratic country and entered the digital era,” Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang told reporters Asked if the commission is prepared to engage in a legal battle, Chen said that it respects CTi News’ right to seek redress through the judicial system, adding that it is confident that the review process would hold up to scrutiny.
China regards Taiwan as a “breakaway province” and has said that it wouldn’t mind using force to claim it. At the same time, Beijing has also accused Washington and Taipei of promoting independence. (ANI)
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