Terminate Gestapo-style NCC

  Terminate Gestapo-style NCC

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

December 5, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

The fierce electoral battles have ended, but the ugly "Dongchang" (a Ming Dynasty secret police organization equivalent to the modern-day Gestapo), however, has not yet terminated! During the heyday of campaign competitions, the NCC, in succession, issued strongly-worded official letters demanding that Chung T’ien cable TV (CTi) station explain its handling of related electoral news. A week before the election day, the NCC even, in a high-profile action, invited top CTi executives for coffee, and even, through relevant channels, hinted that its license could be revoked in the future. In addition, the NCC also directly intervened in the manner of handling news about James Moriarty by TVBS cable news. The situation being developed to such a step, we want to state bluntly that the NCC has blatantly intervened in freedom of the press, even directly restricting the media, such that the basic fig leaf could be discarded, as well!

What is even more intriguing is that, in addition to oppressing CTi cable news in a high-profile action and showing concerns about TVBS, the NCC remained oblivious to other electronic media outlets whose stances were more seriously biased. In the end, this compelled KMT legislators to call a press conference, saying that they would file charges with the District Prosecutors Office against NCC chairman and vice chairman for malfeasance. This high-profile action compelled the NCC, hurrying on the election day, to quickly refer SET News and Era Television to the Central Election Commission (CEC). These earlier and latter moves are tantamount to admitting the NCC’s earlier malfeasance by itself.

The NCC, a government agency that originally should defend freedom of the press, has been denigrated into a hatchet man of a specific political party; it not only selectively oppressed the media, but even roughly threatened the media, intervening in the content of news. The NCC not only totally lost its credibility, but also infringed on the freedom of speech protected by the Constitution. Such behavior has left behind an embarrassing record in the history of freedom of speech in Taiwan.

At this juncture, one of the most important issues is how the NCC and the CEC would take the ensuing step. The NCC has blatantly referred related media to the CEC; we don’t know how the CEC is going to dispose of the referrals, following these battles, the original exalted reputation of the neutrality and objectivity of the NCC and CEC has virtually disintegrated. If in the end, they still mete out punishment against the media, then we would together witness the result of retrogression for Taiwan’s democracy and human rights!

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