Taipei - The manager of Taiwan's most popular cable
television channel TVBS resigned on Monday over the airing of a fake
video showing a gangster challenging the law.
Lee Tao, founder of the 13-year-old 24-hour TV channel, resigned
over the March 27 incident which sent shock waves through Taiwan and
caused the National Communications Commission (NCC) to find TVBS 2
million Taiwan dollars (62,500 US) and ordered TVBS to change its
boss.
Lee said the incident shows that TVBS failed to follow the media's
ethics and carry out its responsibilities.
'I want to shoulder all responsibility. My heart is full of pain
and I deeply regret it,' he said in a statement. He urged the public
to continue to support TVBS, which has 1,000 staff, and monitor its
news reporting.
Last Tuesday TVBS aired a 5-minute recording of Chou Cheng-pao, a
notorious gangster in Taichung, central Taiwan, challenging the
police and another gangster, Liu Rei-rong.
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
mailed it to the channel. But when police questioned TVBS about the
source of the video on Wednesday, TVBS admitted the video was shot by
its reporter for Chou in the motel room.
Prosecutors suspect TVBS taped the video to boost its viewership,
but TVBS insists its reporter was forced by the gangster Chou to tape
the video and was ordered not to reveal how it was made. TVBS has
sacked the reporter as well as another reporter who helped cover up
the scandal.
Police have arrested Chou and discovered that the firearms
displayed in the video were toy guns.
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 
USA
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