In August, the government led by Brazil's president, the labor leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, reacted to public opinion by proposing legislation to establish a national journalists' association.
This sounds like a good thing, since such organizations normally work for the rights of journalists and protect freedom of the press. In the case of Brazil, however, the government intends to regulate and bring discipline to the media.
If this law is passed, journalists may have their rights to work in the media withdrawn if they violate the organization's regulations.
The Brazilian government wants to set up a broadcasting and television bureau to regulate television, video and broadcasting. This proposition was met by criticism, and the Ministry of Culture was forced to make concessions.
These media-restricting policies are most directly aimed at repeated media reports about increasing corruption, including things such as the ruling party's manipulation of campaign funds.
This Brazilian story should sound familiar to Taiwan's journalists and the Taiwanese public. Following the Democratic Progressive Party's accession to power, measures regulating the media and hostile media attitudes have made many people feel that the situation is even worse than it was toward the end of KMT rule. Taiwan's opposition parties and public opinion criticize the DPP because their thinking has changed with their new position.
If these phenomena only were explained by saying that "power corrupts," there would be nothing to discuss. Although the saying is true, and although the news media always should oppose power, democratizing societies experience other problems in the tense relationship between government and media.
As far as Taiwan is concerned, the long-lasting KMT monopoly over media resources and its suppression of other opposition voices left deep scars in the minds of many media workers with a sense of social justice. When the opposition forces, represented by the DPP, finally got a hold on power, many media and cultural workers who in the past had showed a sense of social justice gradually pinned their hopes on -- and allowed themselves to be co-opted by -- the DPP; some even joined its ranks.
The blue camp is perpetuating the KMT's past hold on media resources, and although it is an opposition party, the influence of these media organizations' broadcasts cannot be ignored. This is something that continues to pain many people.
It is easy for these wounded souls to hit back by seeking help from the ideologically close government and use the advantage of power to bring past pirate radio stations such as Voice of Taiwan (
New opportunists and realists are also shifting toward the center of power, forming an alliance of interest groups including idealists as well as those unable to let go of their old hatred and those looking for personal benefit. This makes those being squeezed out by the center of power more likely to ally themselves with the remainder of the old authoritarian regime.
Consequently, we see an increasing polarization of public opinion and less truth in broadcasting. Audiences are growing increasingly disillusioned with the media as public opinion is turned into an arena for political power struggles.
Although the saying that "power corrupts" is easy enough to understand, the process through which this corruption takes place is complex, causing people to become part of it without even knowing, while at the same time allowing many people to defend their own corruption. Breaking this corrupting power structure is both more important and more difficult than moral education.
Ku Er-teh is a freelance writer.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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