Taiwan’s
Chinese Television System (CTS) recently apologized for "causing public
panic" when it erroneously ran a series of alerts saying China had launched attacks on the
island. One of the alerts appearing on its screen read "New Taipei City hit by Communist army's guided
missiles." Another stated "Vessels exploded, facilities and ships
damaged in Taipei port."
CTS attributed the unfathomable airing of the fake news to staff
who mistakenly put out content from disaster prevention drills that the station
was commissioned to produce for New Taipei City's fire department. The company subsequently
released a statement saying: "CTS offers its sincere apology that this
serious flaw has caused panic among the public and trouble to relevant units."
CTS also noted that it ran corrections and apologies on multiple
channels and added that it will "severely punish" those responsible
after it analyzes the results of an internal probe.
Mainland Communist China has long threatened to attack Taiwan
and bring it under its control. Tensions have dramatically increased recently
due to China’s saber-rattling and Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Many feel that it
is only a matter of time—and not much time at that-- before free and tiny
Taiwan is attacked and subsumed by its giant Communist neighbor.
In light of this, it is incomprehensible that such a blunder
could occur. CTS might as well have said, “Oops, sorry, our bad.
But no harm, no foul, right?”
Before reporting extraordinarily
disturbing things like, say, “a comet is going to wipe out life on Earth,” “an
alien invasion is imminent,” “giant murder hornets are going to fly away with
your offspring,” or “Nancy Pelosi is going to speak at your next PTA meeting,”
it might behoove media outlets to exercise due diligence and verify the “information”
before publishing it.
Just sayin’.
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