Staging the News: Sanlih TV Reporter Staged as Interviewee in Wu Nai-ren Bar Investigation Scandal

On October 11, 2017, Sanlih News broadcast an 'exclusive' investigation into prominent DPP New Tide faction figure Wu Nai-ren visiting a high-end bar accompanied by hostesses. To convey the testimony of a supposedly anonymous informant named 'Mr. Ge', Sanlih newsroom management directed its own reporter to pose as 'Mr. Ge' by filming from behind, using dramatized re-enactments and modified voiceovers to simulate a real interview. The deceptive staging was quickly exposed, drawing severe public condemnation for journalistic fraud. Under pressure from the NCC, Sanlih's internal self-discipline committee investigated and concluded that substituting a real interviewee with a staged reporter 'gravely violated the professional ethics of journalistic truthfulness and was highly inappropriate'. The scandal highlighted a troubling practice within Sanlih of manipulating visuals and staging actors to fake critical news reports.