CTi News () was a Taiwanese 24-hour online news outlet and, until December 2020,

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

television channel, operated by Chung T'ien Television. CTi News was known for its support of

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

politician

Han Kuo-yu Han Kuo-yu (Chinese language, Chinese: 韓國瑜, born 17 June 1957), also known as Daniel Han, is a Taiwanese politician and retired Republic of China Army officer who is the current president of the Legislative Yuan. Han graduated from the ...

, who attracted a huge wave of supporters and led the opposition party to a sweeping victory in the

2018 Taiwanese local elections Local elections were held on 24 November 2018 in Taiwan, to elect county magistrates (city mayors), county (city) councilors, township mayors, township councilors and chiefs of village (borough) in 6 municipalities and 16 counties (cities). Elec ...

when he was elected mayor of

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung, officially Kaohsiung City, is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsiung City has a population of approximately 2.73 million p ...

. It is alleged to be a "

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

-friendly" or "pro-Beijing" media outlet In 2023, ''

The Wire China ''The Wire China'' is a weekly online news magazine focused on Chinese business, economics and finance, founded by former ''The New York Times'' Shanghai correspondent David Barboza. History ''The Wire China'' launched its first issue in Apr ...

'' reported that CTi News on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

produced 10 segments containing

anti-American Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment and Americanophobia) is a term that can describe several sentiments and po ...

misinformation Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. Misinformation and disinformation are not interchangeable terms: misinformation can exist with or without specific malicious intent, whereas disinformation is distinct in that the information ...

about a "plan to destroy Taiwan." The segments were subsequently echoed by the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China is the first-ranked Ministries of the People's Republic of China, executive department of the State Council of China, responsible for the country's Foreign relations of China, f ...

Closure on cable television

CTi News's application to renew its broadcast license was rejected by Taiwan's broadcast regulator, the

National Communications Commission The National Communications Commission (NCC; ) is an independent statutory agency of Executive Yuan of Taiwan responsible for regulating the development of the telecommunication and broadcasting industries, promoting competition and consumer prot ...

(NCC), on 18 November 2020. The NCC's decision cited repeated violations of rules regarding accuracy in reporting. It is the first television news channel to have its license terminated in this way since the NCC was created in 2006. There is dispute over whether the NCC's non-renewal of CTi News's broadcast license represents a violation of

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic Media (communication), media, especially publication, published materials, shoul ...

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...

issued a press release stating that while the licence cancellation's effect on CTi News staff was unfortunate, the action did not represent infringement of press freedom. On the other hand, CTi News said that press freedom in Taiwan had died and the Kuomintang party denounced the decision as an attack on press freedom which sent out a chilling effect. Kuomintang had accused the ruling

Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a centre to centre-left Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ...

of seeking to close the news channel, saying that the renewal consideration process was scripted by

Tsai Ing-wen Tsai Ing-wen (; pinyin: ''Cài Yīngwén''; born 31 August 1956) is a Taiwanese politician and legal scholar who served as the seventh president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2016 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party ...

's government. Referring to a classified document from the Presidential office leaked out in May 2020, which described two newly appointed members of the "supposedly independent" regulator as siding with the ruling party and able to cooperate in dealing with CTi News, Kuomintang pointed out the fact that a renewal application hearing, the first of its kind in Taiwan, was hosted by these two members in October 2020, just as written in the document. On 11 December, Kuomintang Chairperson Chiang Chi-chen and former President

Ma Ying-jeou Ma Ying-jeou ( zh, t=馬英九; pinyin: ''Mǎ Yīngjiǔ''; ; born 13 July 1950) is a Taiwanese politician, lawyer, and legal scholar who served as the sixth president of the Republic of China from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Kuomintang (KMT ...

dressed in mourning clothes and called for international attention to the deteriorating press freedom in Taiwan at an international news conference. Ma commented that President Tsai's actions went against her pledge to protect freedom of speech, and questioned that the statement made by Reporters Without Borders "does not resemble commentary from professional media personnel". CTi News was forced to end its broadcasts on Taiwan's cable television channel 52 when its broadcast license expired at 00:00 on 12 December 2020. It continues to broadcast on its YouTube channel and its own app, while its sister channels CTi International (abroad only), CTi Entertainment and CTi Variety also continue to broadcast on cable and satellite. Four months later on 19 April 2021, CTS News and Info Channel (owned by the state-owned Taiwan Broadcasting System), CTi News' long time rival took over Taiwan's cable channel 52 after NCC approved CTS News and Info Channel's transfer from cable channel 130 to cable channel 52.

References

External links

* * {{Television in the Republic of China 24-hour television news channels in Taiwan Defunct television networks Television channels and stations established in 1994 1994 establishments in Taiwan Television channels and stations disestablished in 2020 Television news in Taiwan