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Pro-Taiwan radio
accuses NCC of bias
POLITICAL INTERPRETATION: The chairman of the
station compared the NCC’s decision not to renew its license to the indictment
of Lee Teng-hui on charges of corruption
By Vincent Y. Chao / Staff Reporter
A local radio station yesterday accused a regulatory agency of seeking to shut
it down because of political considerations and a misunderstanding over how its
Taiwanese broadcasts are interpreted.
The National Communications Commission (NCC) last week said it would give
Greater Tainan-based Voice of Sinying radio station a conditional three-month
license instead of a routine license renewal because of questionable content in
one of its programs.
The community-based radio -station, which covers local news and programs, was
accused of airing sexual discussions in an episode of a program called “Military
Carnival, Playing with Girls,” and failing to differentiate between commercials
and regular programming.
However, station operators called the allegations an excuse to destroy the
station. Voice of -Sinying is part of a net of independent radio stations,
mainly in the south, that are critical of the government. The program in
question, Life’s Big Dance Stage, ended on June 30.
Station operators said they informed the regulatory agency of their plan to end
the program on June 16, after the NCC sent a complaint earlier in the month. The
operators called the decision not to renew their license a “surprise,” because
the station won a Golden Bell award in 2006.
Chang Tien-tang (張田黨), the station’s chairman, said that many of the NCC-cited
grievances arose from a misunderstanding of the language content on Life’s Big
Dance Stage — broadcast mainly in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese).
The program’s writers were careful when writing phrases related to sex, said Wu
Kuo-chen (吳國禎), a Hoklo language expert at National Dong Hwa University who was
yesterday introduced at a press conference held by Chang and Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃).
Wu said that while the regulatory agency said the station had used the word
“erection” in one of the program segments, a closer listen revealed that it had
actually used the homonym phrase “khiam thinn (欠天),” which means “unfocused and
careless,” in place of the word for erection.
In another example, the NCC cited use of the word “khai tsa boo (開查某),” which
means prostitute. Wu said the phrase was common in other broadcast mediums and
given its context, used to describe a prostitution case involving a New Taipei
City councilor, it was appropriately used.
Flanked by Chen and Wu, Chang compared the NCC decision to temporarily extend
the license to the recent indictment of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) on
corruption allegations, saying that both decisions were politically motivated.
“If Lee can be hunted down by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), how about a small
radio station with a pro-Taiwanese stance like ours?” Chang said.
The case is a sensitive one for the NCC, which has been fighting against claims
that the government is actively seeking to shut down local radio stations in the
south, some that operate without licenses, because of their support for
pan-green politicians.
Many of the local radio stations have run afoul of laws that prohibit the sale
of illegal medicine. According to NCC documents, the Voice of Sinying was cited
six times over the matter between 2008 and last year.
NCC official Wu Ming-jen (吳銘仁) said the agency followed standard procedure in
the review process, conducted by an independent committee. The Voice of Sinying
was the only station that failed to see its license renewed in the latest batch
of five local stations up for review.
“Last year, two radio stations were also given temporary licenses for morally
objectionable content. We will give the official operating license when they
propose how they plan to improve,” Wu said.
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