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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Da Ai TV stands by series’ cancelation: commission
The cast of Da Ai TV’s drama “Jiachang’s Heart” pose during a news conference in Taipei on May 9 to promote the show before its premiere. Photo: Chen Yi-chuan, Taipei Times
CONFLICT: In another case, the National Communications Commission asked Formosa News’ journalistic ethics committee to review its handling of a dispute with TBC
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
Da Ai TV （大愛電視） will not resume the broadcast of Jiachang’s Heart （智子之心）, network executives told the National Communications Commission yesterday.
The network abruptly canceled the television series after airing only two episodes, reportedly due to criticism by Chinese netizens that it romanticized the 1937 to 1945 Second Sino-Japanese War.
Da Ai TV vice president Ho Chien-ming （何建明） and media development department manager Ou Hong-yu （歐宏瑜） told an NCC meeting why the network decided to cancel the series, commission spokesman Wong Po-tsung （翁柏宗） said.
“The representatives said the network was concerned that certain images in the television series could trigger altercations between different ethnic groups. This would go against the network’s founding purpose, which is to promote harmony in society. It thus decided to stop broadcasting the series to avoid causing potential conflict,” Wong said.
The commissioners asked the network to provide more information on how management arrived at the decision to cancel the series.
“The network had said that it took three years to plan and produce the series, but it took only seven days for management to reach the decision to cancel it. Since it said that it had activated ‘emergency operation procedures,’ we wanted to see how those procedures led to its final decision,” Wong said.
The network said there was no foreign interference in its decision to cancel the television series and that it has no intention of resuming its broadcast, Wong said.
The network acknowledged that it had been negligent in handling the matter, he said, adding that the commission would continue to look into the matter after the network submits all requested information.
Jiachang’s Heart is based on the story of 91-year-old Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation volunteer Lin Chih-hui （林智惠）. When she was 18, Lin served as a military nurse for Japan in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China, against her family’s wishes.
In other news, the commission said that Formosa News’ journalistic ethics committee should quickly convene a meeting to review the channel’s news coverage from May 4 to May 14 of Taiwan Broadband Communication’s （TBC） suspension of the news channel, after it was determined that the channel failed to offer balanced reporting on the incident.
TBC and Formosa TV （FTV） have been engaged in a protracted dispute over the content authorization fee for the multiple-system operator to carry FTV channels, the commission said.
The two are still negotiating the fee, it said.
The commission had entrusted an independent committee formed by third-party experts to review FTV’s news coverage during the stated period.
“A majority of the committee members said that while there is no law banning the news channel from covering stories about itself, the channel must handle the news coverage in a fair and objective manner so that viewers would know how the dispute began. The channel must provide balanced and neutral coverage of the dispute,” the commission said in a statement.
However, a majority of the independent committee’s members said that FTV’s news programs and political talk shows had failed to do so, which contravened Formosa News’ own self-disciplinary convention, the commission said.
The news channel’s journalistic ethics committee should also review related coverage during the period, the commission said, adding that the news channel must forward conclusions reached during the committee meetings to the commission.
“We will review these conclusions when we conduct a biennial review of the channel’s performance and its license review application,” the commission said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
