Journalistic Integrity Collapse: SETTV Exposed for Fabricating Historical 228 Incident Footage

On April 17, 2007, a severe fabrication scandal erupted surrounding the 228 Incident special report '228: Sixty Years On,' commissioned by the Government Information Office and produced by SETTV. The program repeatedly broadcast a black-and-white clip with subtitles reading 'Bloodshed at Keelung Port: Chronicle of the Dock Massacre' to depict the KMT army executing Taiwanese citizens. However, journalists and historians soon exposed that the footage had nothing to do with the 228 Incident; it was actually historical footage of the Nationalist army executing hoarding merchants and communists in Shanghai in 1948 during the Chinese Civil War. SETTV's chief editor, Chen Ya-lin, was forced to bow and apologize, and the GIO canceled the contract and refused payment. The scandal laid bare friendly Green media's willingness to distort history for political propaganda, marking one of the most disgraceful chapters in Taiwan's journalistic history.