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A `public TV group' answer to good TV

Government Information Office Director-General Su Tzen-ping (蘇正平) said recently that his office plans to turn Taiwan Television Enter-prise (TTV, 台視) and Chinese Television System (CTS, 華視) into public stations.

After nationalization, how can the stations stay free from the control and influence of those in power? What difference will it make in programming?

Political influence on TV stations manifests itself in two ways -- politicians' interference in the content of specific programs and the appointment of station man-agers by those in power. Both lead to strong self-constraint and self-censorship in programming.

There are at least five possible forces that can restrict the aforementioned political influence: ownership of a TV station, legal restrictions, producers' collective reaction, the degree of political democratization, effective monitoring mechanisms (including public opinion).

Many believe that private media are able to give better play to Fourth Estate powers, since they are relatively free from political interference compared to public media. However, the opposite is frequently true.

For instance, all British newspapers are owned by private conglomerates and they are highly criticized for their strong political stances. But the state-owned BBC has always remained neutral in its reports regarding political parties. On the other hand, it is common for those private media to strongly support certain parties or political platforms according to their own positions. Some of them even collaborate with those in power.

Both of Taiwan's private TV stations, flooded as they are with controversial talk shows, and the print media, with their distinct political stances, are actually superior to those in the UK.

Still, the only media institution in Taiwan that is able to remain relatively neutral is the Public Television Service (PTS, 公視).

It is a major mistake for the government to appoint senior managers at TTV and CTS. The two stations can easily avoid legal restrictions because they remain private companies in form. If the two are turned into public stations, they will be regulated by law and the above problems will never occur again.

Local media workers' unions have played an insignificant role in combating political interference in the past. Along with the democratization of politics, however, the unions have gradually realized the importance and necessity of independent operations. Now, the government is making nationalizing TTV and CTS as a priority. The stations' workers should take the opportunity to think and discuss the question of whether private conglomeration or nationalization can better improve their work conditions and give space to their professionalism.

From the Taiwan Media Watch Foundation (台灣媒體觀察基金會) to newspapers' opinion pages, these organizations' monitoring function is far from perfect. Because of their constant monitoring, nevertheless, those in power today come under criticism whenever they exercise their power at whim.

After TTV and CTS are turned into public stations, they should form a public TV group in cooperation with PTS. Since the two still derive their income solely from commercials, the quality of their programming may not improve quickly, as they need to follow market orientation. But after the establishment of the public TV group, the two could enhance their efficiency. And since their income will not go to state coffers or private investors anymore, they should have more resources available for programming, which will allow them to gradually improve the quality of their programs.

Feng Chien-san is a professor of journalism at National Chengchi University.

Translated by Eddy Chang
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