2. "Zhongtian News Removal of License"

(2020/11/30)

Recently, the "Zhongtian News Removal of Licenses Incident", which has caused a lot of uproar, has been continuously fermented by the opinions of the two sides with different positions, and many people have not yet fully understood the context and full picture of the incident, calling for "the government to stifle press freedom", "Press freedom is dead" and other extremely serious remarks, and most of the people who hold the above position are from the supporters of the blue camp. Even more extreme, the media of Zhongtian Group "NCC's withdrawal of Zhongtian's license" resorted to "personal grievances" - that is, "the result of Tsai Ing-wen and Su Zhenchang's elimination of peace is that Zhongtian was cancelled by NCC." For this incident, in short, I think the NCC made the right decision by putting aside the label of cowardice and incompetence in the past, and instead raising the courage to be attacked by public opinion.

First, let’s briefly explain why the news station was “revoked”.

According to the Satellite Radio and Television Law, each news station will be reviewed by the NCC every 6 years. If it passes, it will continue to issue a license; on the contrary, if it does not pass, the license will be revoked. Under normal circumstances, if the news station is not particularly missing, the photos will be issued normally. This time, "Whether Zhongtian can withdraw its license" was unanimously approved by a 7:0 vote in the NCC committee's resolution to stop issuing Zhongtian's business license. At the same time, the public questioned the fairness of the committee members, whether the ruling party seriously interfered with the resolution process, etc. sound waves. This depends on whether Zhongtian News is a "qualified" news station, the definition of press freedom and the journalism profession.

 What is "freedom of the press"?
That is, media reporters have the freedom to report news and should not be disturbed by external forces or political factors, but this must be done. 

It must be established on the basis of reporting "facts". Why do I have to stress here that "press freedom" can only be established under the condition of "reporting facts"? Zhongtian News has repeatedly reported "fake news" "without fact-checking" before being shut down from Taiwan, such as Wendan The loss of more than 200 tons of reservoirs, the case of diplomats watching the field, etc. . . . Its news reports that tell stories based on pictures and deliberately fail to verify facts have harmed public interests, not to mention that the news media, as "public instruments of society", wantonly and obviously influence the news they report because of their political stance. The personal will of the "group boss" is a tool to speak out, and the media has become a megaphone for "group interests as the starting point", completely subverting the imagination of the social responsibility that the news media should shoulder as a "public instrument of society". It can be seen from the above that "press freedom" still has its own norms. It is not the news media or the uncrowned king of freedom of speech. No matter how biased their positions are, they must report "facts", and cannot rely solely on the personal will of the group boss. Belief is the starting point to "produce" news. "Freedom" does not mean saying what you want to say without being responsible at all, especially since the news media plays a very important role in society. Any report may incite people's emotions, cause panic, or even endanger the public interest. Another highly influential media. If there is no regulation at this time, what rules should the news media have in the future? What kind of mentality do the media of other countries hold when they see the media of our country?

What is "journalism"?

Journalism can be said to be the "basic ability" that every media reporter should have, including news ethics, news ethics, the ability to distinguish right from wrong in reporting news, etc. . . . Once media reporters lose their journalism major, the journalists themselves have lost their original intentions and are not worthy of being called "journalists" with heavy responsibilities; on the other hand, once news media lose their journalism majors, they will easily become "journalists without original intentions and goals". The megaphone for the vested interests - powerful elites (including specific governments or big financial groups)" loses the important role of "social responsibility". In the case of Zhongtian, the degree of private use of public equipment is higher than that of other stations, and the reporter is not responsible for the "public", but to the "group boss". Cai Yanming's personal will has been clearly implemented into the editorial platform of Zhongtian, and the reporters have also paralyzed their own pursuit of journalism, choosing to succumb to the bottomless abyss of "ignoring journalism ethics and morality", becoming a writing robot with flesh and blood but without soul. .

"Furthermore, whether or not the NCC is an "independent institution" has become a point of contention. "

The so-called "independent organization" is actually very illusory in concept. To be honest, there is almost no country in the world that has any institution that is "completely separated from the government" and "existing detached". It is unavoidable that there will still be some connection with the government. But it is not to say that this is an unavoidable situation. The NCC will completely follow the will of the ruling party and accept it as it is. That is also not allowed and accepted. Taking the NCC's decision this time, because it was "Zhongtian" who was shut down and had its license removed, it happened to be the news media supported by the opposition party of the Tsai government, and some people would naturally remove the ruling party and Zhongtian from their photos. Even with the relationship of the equal sign, it is concluded that this is "speech is gradually becoming one word" and "democracy is disappearing."

exhausted” situation. What we can know is that it is impossible for the NCC and the ruling party to be "completely unrelated", but for the decision to withdraw the license of Zhongtian, it is completely off-topic with "political hands interfering with press freedom" and "the death of freedom of speech". And there is a suspicion of deliberately slandering the ruling party.

"Political interference with press freedom?"

How should I say? Zhongtian News not only failed its internal control and self-discipline mechanism, but also suffered improper interference in its news production and broadcasting, which violated the "Zhongtian TV News Autonomy Convention"; it also committed many large and small violations before its license was withdrawn. Including 12 violations of fact-checking, 5 violations of public order and good customs, 4 violations of children’s physical and mental health, 2 violations of program advertisements, 1 violation of children’s laws, and 1 improper operation; The contempt and inadequacy of the "unchecked" fake news, the excessive god-building movement, the disregard of the "incidental clauses" of the license issued by the NCC in the 107th review - it refers to issues that are beneficial to Zhongtian itself. For improvement, other problems are ignored and made superficial. Therefore, we can know that it is not that the NCC did not give Zhongtian News a chance to improve itself, but that Zhongtian News was defiant and brazenly ignoring the journalism profession and the warnings given by the NCC, with the primary goal of publicizing the personal will of the group boss. , completely forgetting that he is a "social utility" role.

To me, the NCC's decision this time is reasonable and sensible. Let's think about it, if the NCC succumbed to the pressure of people's discussion this time and "again" issued a license to Zhongtian News Channel with an attached clause, what majesty and legitimacy would the NCC have? It means that the news station can become popular. Make endless mistakes and still get a business license. At this time, NCC will withdraw the license of Zhongtian News, and at the same time, it can stop news stations that ignore news majors from continuing to run rampant, and can also warn other news stations in Taiwan. After that, other news stations will be more careful in news majors, balancing reporting and fact-checking. Be cautious and improve the quality of news; at the same time, it can also establish the majesty of the NCC, so that various news media understand the importance of "norms" and will not overstep the boundaries. Of course, as readers, we still hope that the NCC can view and supervise every news media with the same standards, and should not conduct double-standard inspection of specific media. Therefore, we should be more diligent and active in "supervising the government" and "supervising entities" and become "citizens" with social responsibilities.

 "Summary: Will freedom be out of balance?"

The answer is actually obvious - of course not, in the case of various media keeping their own feet. After Zhongtian took down the photos, many people were worried about whether all the TV stations in the future would become exclusive to the Green Camp? "No." In addition to Zhongtian News, there are still many news media with a blue-leaning political stance. It is not without Zhongtian that other media will be occupied by green. Of course, it is reasonable for ordinary people to have these concerns. After all, under the changing times and social background in Taiwan, the media environment has gradually tended to "report news from a standpoint". It can also be said that we are in a "post-truth" situation. era.

But what we need to know is that Zhongtian News Station is not worthy of being called a "public instrument of society" at all, and its various behaviors and remarks can be said to have completely disregarded the journalism profession. Self-media", which only warms each other in its own stratosphere. This reminds me of a professor in a class at National Chengchi University who once said to his classmates, "I think it's better to keep Zhongtian News, so that the fans who support the Blue Camp don't have the pain of cognitive dissonance." I think this sentence is a little unreasonable. Because Zhongtian exists as a "news media", it is completely irresponsible to society, and has become a "self-media" that speaks for individuals, repeatedly appealing the people's emotions to hatred for the ruling party. Do you still think Zhongtian can be called a "news media"? Let alone the so-called "freedom of speech"? This is no longer just freedom of speech or stratospheric heating. In fact, it is the rot, degeneration and corruption of the "self-media". Zhongtian, who is known for creating fake news and a large number of news of the god-building movement, cannot give it the uncrowned king of "press freedom".