Last week the Legislative Yuan passed amendments to three laws governing radio, cable TV and satellite TV operations in Taiwan. Despite the controversies involved in the process, the decades-long demand that all political parties, government agencies and military institutions withdraw their stakes in the media is finally being implemented. This will realize a "de-politicization" project in the electronic media and cut off political manipulation. Government, political parties, public-office holders and party employees are no longer allowed to invest in private radio and TV enterprises. At the same time, the media are no longer allowed to submit for review any programs, short films or advertisements in which election candidates participate and which are funded or produced by the government. Political forces will no longer have ownership and managerial powers in radio and TV enterprises, nor will they be allowed to manipulate content.
The effect of this "de-politicization" program will be deep and extensive. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will have to sell its CTV (中視) and BCC (中廣) shares. At the same time, more than 40 elected officials on both central and local government levels who occupy positions at TTV (台視) and CTS (華視) will have to sell their shares and stop their involvement in the operations within six months. Interference in political discussion forums by political parties and embedded marketing ploys related to elections will no longer be allowed. From now on, influence on or interference in the media by political forces will be viewed as illegal.
The amendments are in fact only the rudimentary work. There is still a long way to go to prevent the political forces from trying to manipulate the media. Monitoring by civic organizations and self-discipline on the part of political parties are equally important. The Taipei Society immediately pointed out that two Democratic Progressive Party legislators, Chang Chun-hung (張俊宏) and Trung Chai (蔡同榮) -- who are both members of the party's Central Standing Committee -- still hold chairmanships at media enterprises. In its annual report on radio and TV policy, the Control Yuan also pointed out that the Hakka and Aboriginal TV stations set up and owned by the authorities contravene the policy of asking political parties, government agencies and the military to withdraw from the media.
The new regulations do not guarantee a reasonable and fair media environment. Ideological confrontation is quite serious in Taiwan's media now. We are still a long way from creating good-quality media that reflects Taiwan's public opinion. The biggest challenge is in preventing media manipulation by political parties and politicians in collusion with financial interest groups, by way of re-investment and front men. The laws do not regulate politicians hosting media programs, but the public's demand that politicians get out of the media will become louder. The politicians in question should understand this de-politicization trend and quit of their own accord.
Management of radio and TV stations will in future be transferred from the Government Information Office to a National Communications Commission, which is already up and running. It is defined as an independent supervisory institution responsible for allocating licenses, managing TV and broadcast content, and maintaining orderly competition. One important issue is how to prevent political interference in the commission's formation and operations. After the political parties, government agencies and military withdraw from the media, media resources should not fall into the hands of conglomerates. Many scholars are calling for the establishment of a "public TV group." Perhaps the government should also start planning how to regulate the share sales by government agencies and political parties.
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