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Calls for TVBS to be closed after it admits to lying about film of criminal

Taiwan's popular TVBS cable news network is waging yet another battle for survival over a controversial bogus video.

Lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party demanded yesterday that the National Communications Commission (NCC) shut down the Hong Kong-invested channel.

'The NCC can never tolerate such an irresponsible TV station and must immediately revoke its operating licence,' DPP legislative caucus head Wang Hsing-nan said.

He also asked TVBS president Lee Tao  to step down for what he claimed was the repeated 'fabrication' of news reports.

The news channel, seen by the DPP  as an unfriendly TV network because of its constant criticism of  the party and its government, has come under fire for lying about the source of a video showing a gangster brandishing firearms in front of the camera and threatening to kill a crime boss.

The gangster, identified as Chou Cheng-bao,  was seen in the video waving a pistol while standing behind a table laden with three other firearms, saying he was gunning for a crime boss whom he named as Liu Jui-yung.

'If I see you next time, I'll kill you right away,' he said in the video aired by TVBS late on Monday.

The open death threat and challenge to law and order sent shockwaves across the island, with many people believing it was further evidence that Taiwan's crime rate had taken a turn for the worse.

It also has upset Premier Su Tseng-chang,  who has faced pressure to step down for failing to improve the law and order situation in Taiwan despite pledges to do so. Rivals from within the DPP also made use of the video footage to demand his resignation.

But as criticism of Mr Su, one of the four DPP hopefuls for the 2008 presidential elections, gained strength, TVBS issued a statement on Wednesday night, apologising for airing the video, which it originally claimed was made and sent to the TV station by Chou.

TVBS said it had found out that Nantou-based reporter Shih Cheng-kang  had lied about the source of the video. It also said his supervisor Chang Yu-kun,  based in central Taiwan, had helped him cover up the source. Instead of being sent to the reporter by Chou, the video was actually filmed by Shih.

TVBS said it had sacked the two journalists and issued major demerits against two senior officials in charge of the news department.

The slip by TVBS created a golden opportunity for the DPP-led pro-independence camp to attack the station yesterday.

Dozens of DPP supporters demonstrated outside the station demanding the resignation of its president and the shutting down of TVBS, which faced a similar survival problem in late 2005 when the government  accused it of violating foreign-ownership laws.

Mr Su yesterday demanded the judiciary investigate the case and punish any wrongdoing.

'The media should support police authorities in maintaining social order rather than creating social stirs,' he said.

The Presidential Office also issued a statement, saying the TVBS report  had created a great deal of resentment in Taiwan, and local media should refrain from making speculative reports.

DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun said it was not enough for TVBS to just apologise.

'The NCC must stand up to [discipline] TVBS. If it fails to help the public to supervise media, it is a big misfortune for the nation,' he said.

However, the opposition Kuomintang asked the NCC to remain independent and resist government pressure.

'It must handle the case with fairness,' KMT legislator Joanna Lei Chien  said.

The NCC said yesterday that other stations also had broadcast the video and it would require them all to explain why they had done so.

'We expect to issue the punishment to all those involved next week,' NCC spokesman Shih Shih-hao  said.

Meanwhile, police arrested Chou in his hideout in an abandoned workshop in central Taiwan yesterday afternoon. They also found four toy guns, alleged to be those displayed by Chou on the video. They are investigating whether Chou coerced the reporter to record the video.



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