Angry lawmakers demand shut down of popular Taiwan TV channel

Mar 29, 2007, 11:39 GMT

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.