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Hold hearing on Want
Want deal, activists urge
CONDITIONS: Association of Taiwan Journalists
head Chen Hsiao-yi said that Tsai Eng-meng has not given up control of CtiTV
news, but is running it through associates
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
Media reform activists yesterday urged the National Communications Commission (NCC)
to hold an administrative hearing on whether Want Want China Times Group has met
its conditions for the purchase of China Network Systems’ cable TV operations.
The commission’s main conditions require Want Want China Times Group chairman
Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) or any party related to him to completely dissociate
themselves from CtiTV news. It said they must not control, manage or hold shares
in the TV channel.
The commission also said China Television’s (CTV) digital news channel must
become a non-news channel and CTV must establish an independent editorial
system.
The Want Want China Times Group responded to the commission’s demands last year
by placing its shares in CtiTV news under the trust of the Industrial Bank of
Taiwan (IBT). It submitted an application to the commission for approval last
month.
Association of Taiwan Journalists chairwoman Chen Hsiao-yi (陳曉宜) said the group
was two-faced about fulfilling the conditions.
“It filed an administrative lawsuit against the commission in an attempt to
avoid having to fulfill the conditions, but in the meantime, it put its shares
in CtiTV news under the trust of IBT. This two-faced strategy was to create an
impression that the group had severed its ties with CtiTV news and disguise the
fact that Tsai Eng-meng still controls the channel,” Chen said.
Although Tsai’s son resigned as chairman of CtiTV news, Chen said his successor,
former CtiTV general manager Ma Yung-jui (馬詠睿), was closely related to Tsai.
Not only did Ma and other managers attend the public hearing on the Want
Want-CNS deal last year to defend Tsai, Chen said, he also directed CtiTV’s news
team to heavily report on the group’s allegations that Academia Sinica associate
research fellow Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) had paid his students to join protests
against media monopolization.
The group later apologized for falsely accusing Huang in its news reports.
“The management team chosen by Tsai continues to manage CtiTV news and this
demonstrates that Tsai still directs and controls personnel appointments and the
operation of the channel,” Chen said.
She said IBT chairman Kenneth Lo (駱錦明) is very close to the family of Jeffery
Koo Jr (辜仲諒), chairman of the Chinatrust Charity Foundation, and Tsai placed his
CtiTV shares in trust soon after he and Koo launched a bid to purchase Next
Media’s Taiwanese media outlets. This showed that Tsai has continued to control
CtiTV through his business partners, she said.
Chen and National Taiwan University professors Chang Chin-hwa (張錦華), Jang
Show-ling (鄭秀玲), Lin Li-yun (林麗雲) and Lin Tsung-nan (林宗男), as well as several
activists, submitted a petition to the commission yesterday, asking it to hold a
hearing to determine if Want Want China Times has met the commission’s
conditions.
Chang said the Trust Act (信託法) was designed to protect property owners, because
the act states that any change in the method of administration of a trust
property shall be subject to the prior consent of the trustor, trustee and
beneficiary. The act also states that the trustor or his inheritor has the right
to terminate the trust at any time.
“What the group did will not completely dissociate itself from CtiTV news, nor
will it make it completely separate from the channel,” Chang said.
Commission spokesperson Yu Hsiao-cheng (虞孝成) said the commission was still
investigating the issue and its members had not yet discussed Want Want China
Times’ application.
Huang Chin-yi (黃金益), director of the commission’s communication management
department, said the group submitted its application on Dec. 16 and that under
the Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法), a ruling must be given within two
months of receipt of an application.
However, the review period could be extended by two months if the commission
deemed it necessary, Huang said.
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