CTS News Misinforms Viewers About PLA Missile Attack, Causing Panic
Summary Report by Taiwan Weekly
During the morning news broadcast from 7 AM on April 20, CTS News ran in the news ticker that New Taipei City was hit by a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) missile attack, and facilities and vessels in Taipei Harbor were damaged.
Unsurprisingly, the broadcast caused panic among the public and alarmed the top management of the national security team. The news was later clarified as a mistake and an apology was issued. However, two hours later at the 9 AM news once again ran an erroneous news ticker: "Tatun volcano erupted; magma unleashed." The chair, as well as the acting general manager of the Chinese Television System (CTS), both resigned to take responsibility.
At a time of war in Ukraine and the thick tension between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, these are most unfortunate errors. CTS earlier in the morning have also displayed news ticker headlines such as: "war is imminent" and Communist China prepares for war. The Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te stated on the subject: "This is a mistake that should never have happened" along with an apology to the public.
Legislator Johnny Chiang of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) called attention to the Committee on National Defense of the Legislative Yuan on this incident. This was a media report, not a statement spread by the public, and he called on Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng and senior officials of the national security team to delve deeper. Legislator Lee Te-wei of the KMT also said that the matter involved national security and suggested that Hsing Tai-chao, prosecutor general of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office, should conduct an in-depth investigation into the CTS just as he did with the March 3 power outage case—to see if there were Communist Chinese spies or outside influence seeking to spread misinformation.
The Investigation Bureau, Ministry of Justice, quickly interviewed those involved and preliminarily concluded that there was no intentional production or dissemination of false information. The director and the subtitling staff explained to the investigation bureau that they were commissioned by the New Taipei City Fire Department to produce a disaster prevention drill video and they misplaced the text file in question, running it as an error.
As for the "second" error, it was apparently due to the use of a new formatting template, deployed to produce an apology for the runner in a hurry, which led to the exposure of the trial wording.
A former employee of CTS news department said that according to procedure, the editor-in-chief must read all of the news tickers before starting the broadcast, to be confirmed also during the broadcast. It was remarkable that in this instance the mistake was not discovered for more than eight minutes.
In the afternoon of April 20, CTS urgently convened a disciplinary meeting and disciplined a total of eight people: directors, editors and morning news producers. The heaviest punishment was a major demerit. Acting General Manager Chen Ya-lin of CTS who returned from an overseas trip and is in quarantine, asked the board of directors for punishment and recorded an apology video addressed to the audience that very same evening.
Unexpectedly, just the day after the apology it was revealed that a second major blunder appeared at 9 AM of the same day suggesting some internal governance issues at CTS. Several KMT legislators raised the point that Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang of the NCC should be responsible for the current management situation, as he had single-handedly championed the entry of CTS News onto the main cable channels.
Vice Chairman and Spokesman Weng Bai-tsong of the NCC stated in a press conference that CTS is a part of the Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS) and is a crucial part of the national infrastructure. As it serves a public function, higher standards of accuracy should apply and indeed, CTS may face a fine of up to NT$ 2 million (about US$68,300). However, Legislator Lin Chu-yin of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) from the media, bitterly criticized this possible outcome — that although the NCC can impose a heavy penalty of NT$2 million, CTS belongs to the TBS, meaning it is the taxpayer that will end up with the bill.
On April 22, Legislator Lin Yi-hua of the KMT questioned Acting General Manager Chen Ya-lin on the subject of the NT$12 million (about US$409,800) bid from the Overseas Compatriot Commission for the video production of the "Global Overseas Compatriot Love and Care for Taiwan." This was presented as “exclusive news,” even as it violated the TBS mandate.
Lin further probed into Chen’s responsibilities as acting general manager of CTS and head of the news station. It was concerning therefore that Chen saw fit to take a 20-day overseas trip to Germany, France, and the United States in her other capacity as anchor and host. Adding to that another ten days in quarantine — did she think this month-long jaunt away from her position constituted responsible management?
The Education Committee of the Legislative Yuan invited the Ministry of Culture, TBS, CTS, and the NCC to explain the recent incident. In light of its recent blunders, Legislator Rosalia Wu of the DPP has suggested thorough reform for the TBS, for its system and governance.