Taipei - Angry parliamentarians of Taiwan's ruling party
Thursday demanded that the island's media regulator shut down a
popular cable television channel for lying about the source of a news
footage showing a gangster challenging the law.
'Shame on TVBS,' said Wang Hsin-nan, the head of the party caucus.
'The National Communications Commission must shut down the channel
right away for reporting bogus news.'
Wang's colleagues said it was not the first time the cable news
channel aired false news, and the broadcast footage showing the
gangster flaunting the firearms in front of the TV audience was
not only irresponsible but also generated a shockwave within Taiwan.
The recalled a series of reports produced by TVBS earlier this
year on the use of poisonous material to wax feathers of ducks,
causing a consumer scare and resulting in huge losses for duck
farmers.
Commission spokesman Shih Shih-hao said TVBS was not the only
channel airing the controversial footage, as all other stations also
broadcast the same footage half an hour after the TVBS broadcast.
He said the panel would decide the matter next week. Some channels
later claimed they obtained the footage from police.
TVBS Thursday said it gave the original footage to police and kept
a copy for it to broadcast.
It admitted in a statement that two of its reporters had produced
the video and were fired after being found out. 'We apologize to the
public for our negligence,' a company said.
TVBS aired the five-minute recording of Chou Cheng-pao, a
notorious gangster in Taichung, central Taiwan, challenging the
police and another gangster, Liu Rei-rong on Tuesday.
The footage, shot in a motel room, showed Chou sitting in a bed
with guns and rifles lying in front of him as he admitted to
participating in three recent gun battles in Taichung and voiced
grievances against Liu.
'If I see you again, I will kill you!' Chou shouted into the
camera while, waving a pistol and pulling the trigger.
The video sent shockwaves across Taiwan and left many people
fearing for their safety and doubting whether police or gangsters
were in control.
TVBS initially claimed that Chou had made the tape himself and
sent it to the channel. But on Wednesday afternoon, TVBS informed
police that the video was shot by its reporters for Chou in the motel
room.
Other media outlets denounced the channel for faking news to boost
its ratings, while the government Information Office called on the
nation to condemn the station's actions.
Police on Thursday arrested Chou, who was hiding in a village hut
in central Taiwan. Police were investigating if the suspect had
threatened the reporters to produce the video as the journalists had
claimed.
Since Taiwan dropped restrictions on the media in the late 1980s,
the country's television market has ballooned from three state-
controlled TV stations to 100 24-hour cable channels, triggering
fierce competition among TV companies and reporters.
In the battle for scoops and viewers, some Taiwan channels
sensationalize or even fabricate news.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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