By Cody Yiu
Staff Reporter
Saturday, Dec 27, 2003,Page 3
Photo:
Chiang Ying-Ying, Taipei Times
An international Chinese-language television station that had been founded by
North American Chinese said yesterday that it was facing pressure from the
Chinese government about the possibility of broadcasting in Taiwan via
satellite.
"As New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) dares to reveal dirty truths behind
many issues related to China, our cooperation with international satellite
companies has been constantly disrupted or terminated by the Chinese government.
As a result our satellite system which was to provide live broadcasts to Taiwan
has been locked," said Yingchuang Liu, professor of Economics at National Taiwan
University as well as the Taiwanese representative of NTDTV.
According to Liu, those who want to view NTDTV's programs currently have to
use a decoder.
"Right now, we are looking at working with another satellite company that is
not afraid of the Chinese government so that we will finally be able to
broadcast our programs freely to the people in Taiwan," Liu said.
NTDTV, a non-profit organization, was founded in New York in February last
year to provide international news and a variety of television programs to
various Chinese communities in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.
According to Liu, NTDTV's news coverage on topics such as Falun Gong and SARS
has been objective. "We take pride in our international news," Liu said.
In November NTDTV's documentary on China's crackdown on Falun Gong
practitioners at Tiananmen Square won an honorary award at Columbus
International Movie Festival. [Editor's note: In fact it's the film "False Fire", which reveals that the so-called "Tiananmen self-immolation" was set up by Chinese government in order to defame Falun Gong.]
"We want to become the CNN in the Chinese world, and news is our top
priority. Our ideology is to emphasize human rights, democracy and freedom;
furthermore, our stance is unbiased and is not swayed by any government," Liu
said.
"Although we want to broadcast live programs free of charge to Taiwanese
audiences, we are facing challenges," he said.
Liu said that due to the difficulties presented by getting access to
satellite broadcasts to Taiwan, residents will have to be content with watching
the station's Internet broadcasts.
NTDTV has been providing free satellite service and around-the-clock programs
to worldwide Chinese communities for almost two years and has now set its sights
on Taiwan.
"As Taiwan's democracy and freedom of speech goes along well with the
ideology of NTDTV, Taiwan becomes an ideal place to work with," Liu said.
NTDTV has also received support from Huang Hui-chen , director-general of the
Government Information Office.
At present NTDTV provides programs in Mandarin and Cantonese. In addition to
news, it offers 11 types of television programs, including business and finance,
health and children's shows.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2003/12/27/2003085302
Actors perform a traditional dance at a
media conference held in Taipei yesterday by the New York-based New Tang
Dynasty Television, the world's first international, non-profit
Chinese-language TV station. The event was held to promote the station's
shows for the Lunar New Year next month.
Posting date: 1/1/2004
Original article date: 1/1/2004
Category: News & Media Reports