NCC fines erring television stations

Great job, NCC. Go out and do meddlesome and useless media policing. Then again, passing ads off as news isn't very professional. Taipei Times reports:

Several TV stations were penalized by the National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday for running false news reports or allowing product placements in their news programs, with the aggregate penalty reaching approximately NT$5 million (US$150,000).

The commission punished, among others, TVBS-N, SET TV (三立新聞台) and ERA News (年代新聞) for failing to verify sources and misreporting that a fireman who tried to find victims of the collapsed Houfeng Bridge (后豐大橋) was dead. Each station was asked to pay a fine of NT$300,000.

The penalty for Formosa Television (FTV, 民視) topped NT$1.6 million, the largest among all TV stations.

FTV's violations included an evening news report claiming that the viewership rating of Niang Chia (娘家), a Taiwanese drama series produced by FTV, had set new records, as well as repeatedly showing fruit juice and ice cream brands during its news reports.

Chinese Television System (CTS, 華視) was asked to pay NT$840,000 for reporting on a brand of women's underwear, an online game and organic food in its news programs.