With the objective of providing a means for different voices of society to be heard, encouraging participation of citizen interest groups in broadcasting oversight, and expanding audience monitoring of inappropriate broadcast content, the National Communications Commission (NCC) established the Broadcasting Content Complaints Website so that opinions and suggestions on broadcasting oversight policies can be submitted and broadcasting content can be reported for suspected regulatory violations. The NCC releases quarterly and annual broadcasting oversight reports to increase the extent to which the general public can help in monitoring broadcast content. In the 2019 NCC Report on Broadcasting Supervision, results show that, in total, 3,132 public complaints were filed against television and radio broadcasting content during 2019, with television accounting for 3,049 cases and radio the remaining 83. The total number of complaints was an increase of 766 compared to 2018.
The report indicates that during 2019, the five most common complaints against inappropriate content filed by the public pertain to false or biased content (1,078 cases, or 34.4%); content that is disruptive to public order or detrimental to good social customs (477, or 15.2%); personal comments on the contents or wording of certain channels (radio stations), programs, or commercials (351, or 11.2%); content harmful to the physical or psychological well-being of children and youths (220, or 7.0%); and suggestions regarding the overall broadcasting environment or NCC policies, regulations, and administration (180, or 5.8%)－all of which account for 73.6% of the total complaints received by the NCC.
Upon closer observation of recent annual reports, it is worth noting that complaints regarding false or biased content have been the most common over the past four consecutive years. The number of complaints in this category was 2,499 in 2016 (51.1% of all complaints received that year), 339 (19.9%) in 2017, 541 (22.9%) in 2018, and 1,078 (34.4%) in 2019. In response to public concern about such content, the NCC amended the Satellite Broadcasting Act in 2016 to include regulations on fact verification and principles of fairness. In addition, since March 2019, NCC has been closely monitoring broadcast content on news channels and has since published periodic oversight reports. Consequently, news channels have made significant improvements to their journalism and news reporting standards, resulting in a more diverse range of opinions being made available to the audience at large.
The NCC issued 87 penalties against television operators during 2019 with total fines amounting to NT$30,373,000. The three most common violations resulting in fines were the failure to distinguish between programs and advertising content (NT$10.5 million); the failure to comply with journalistic principles of fact verification to the detriment of public interests (NT$4.2 million); and content harmful to the physical or psychological well-being of children and youths (NT$3 million). Radio operators received 26 penalties in total, with the most fined violation being failure to distinguish between programs and advertising content (NT$4,200 in fines).
The statistics included in this report detail the number of complaints and the amount of feedback submitted by the public in regard to television and radio media. They should not, however, be interpreted as evidence that broadcasting operators are in violation of the law. In the event of actual violations of the law, besides issuing penalties in accordance with applicable regulations, the NCC takes administrative action using a multi-pronged approach to warn operators to take heed of complaints and make improvements accordingly. Through these measures, the NCC safeguards audience’s rights, with view to building a wholesome media environment, and protecting the credibility of radio and television media.
For more details, click the link to read the report:
https://www.ncc.gov.tw/English/news_detail.aspx?site_content_sn=245&is_history=0&pages=0&sn_f=5126
