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Taiwanese public TV like a ship lost at sea

Public broadcasting in the UK and Taiwan is moving in dramatically different directions. While the BBC's new charter and ample funding prepares one of the world's most distinguished public broadcasting organizations for the future, its Taiwanese counterpart, the newly-formed Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS, 台灣公廣集團), is struggling to stay afloat without funding or even a proper legal basis.

The BBC's new charter, which came into effect on Jan. 1, sets a number of goals over the next decade including developing the BBC's infrastructure; supporting the UK's TV and movie industries; internationalizing and providing innovative content and digital media so that all citizens have access to diverse, in-depth programming regardless of class, region, or ethnicity.

To achieve those goals, the BBC has been given an annual budget of ?3 billion (US$6 billion) over each of the next 10 years and, on Jan. 18th, the Labour and Conservative parties joined together to grant the BBC further annual increases. This strong legal and financial basis will help the flagship of the British broadcasting industry maintain its leadership position over the next decade.

In contrast, Taiwan's Government Information Office (GIO), which oversees the broadcasting industry, is neither pushing for passage of the draft public broadcasting act nor providing funding to TBS, which was created by combining the Chinese Television Service (CTS, 華視) and the Public Television System (PTS, 公視). Although the legislature gave TBS NT$2.2 billion (US$66.7 million) for its two year-plan for the development of public broadcasting and digital television, the GIO has failed to allocate that funding to TBS. Without that money, TBS is a ship drifting through seas of uncertainty and it could run aground at any moment.

Why are the UK and Taiwan so different? British political parties try to win minds and votes with policies and achievements. Once in power, a party must honor its campaign promises and deliver policy achievements. Otherwise, it will quickly find itself out of power.

The Labour Party's media policy platform for the last election envisioned the BBC as laying the foundation for a nation of innovation in an era of cultural economy. Voters supported this policy and, since its latest victory, Labor has worked hard to make this vision a reality. Its ministers, furthermore, have stepped forward at key moments to defend the value of public broadcasting and build support for it.

Taiwan's media policy is less clear. When election time rolls around, the parties rely on the simplest possible strategy: polarizing the pan-blue and pan-green camps while mobilizing both pro-unification and pro-independence supporters. The public interest does not enter into their calculations, nor do they seek to win votes with their policies.

If a party wins, it immediately abandons any promises it has made and instead concentrates on raking in cash. Broadcast media policy moves forward only if you push it. If you stop, it stops. And when progress on media policy grinds to a halt, it means further delay to one of the nation's major development projects.

Civic groups need to understand that political parties will only keep their promises if they are pressured. This is the only way that Taiwan is going to get quality programming. The current administration promised to create a first-rate public broadcasting system. Meanwhile, other countries like the UK are sailing ahead into a new century. What is the GIO doing?

Lin Lih-yun is an associate professor in the Graduate Institute of Journalism at National Taiwan University.

Translated by Michael Fahey and Eddy Chang
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