TVBS Reporter Filmed Gangster

The China Times and other media outlets are now reporting that Zhou Zhengbao's video-taped threats were in fact filmed by Shi Zhen-kang, a TVBS reporter from the station's Nantou bureau. TVBS has issued a public apology and fired Shih along with another reporter from the station's central Taiwan department. TVBS broke the story of the videotape a few days ago as an exclusive.

The station is claiming that Shi concealed the origin of the videotape. But officials from the National Communications Council aren't buying the station's story. They say that the station could be fined between NT$200,000 and NT$2 million and ordered to stop broadcasting for up to three months.

Earlier this year, TVBS caused consumer panic after it ran sensationalist reports of consumers who bought ducks with traces of tar in their beaks. Those reports were later discredited by government testing at slaughterhouses but caused financial losses for duck farmers.