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The NCC has more work ahead

The Legislative assembly recently rushed to complete amendments to the National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法), restoring its previous policy on the selection of independent commissioners, with nominations made by the premier and then subject to legislative approval.

While the end of the struggle over commissioner appointments is a good thing, the National Communications Commission (NCC) needs to change more than just its partisan process of choosing commissioners based on party ratio in the legislature.

A more important issue for the NCC is how to stay independent of business interests and make public welfare its first priority.

Considering the NCC's actions since its founding, while the influence of political parties in the NCC has been limited, the influence of business is quite apparent.

More importantly, this session of NCC commissioners made a group of proposals that leaned distinctly toward deregulation that was beneficial to business, including allowing foreign investment in wireless television broadcasting, deregulating cross media ownership, eliminating the required ratio of domestically produced programs and massively decreasing fines.

It's no wonder that public organizations criticize the NCC for being partial to media operators, and also no wonder business is concerned about the warning that the NCC might be running on empty.

The way to curb the NCC's partiality to businesses is to adjust its fundamental management principles and the way it makes regulations. We believe that once the problem of political parties influencing the NCC through nominations based on legislative representation has been rectified, more action is still needed.

To solidify the NCC's independence, it must draw a clear boundary between itself and business. Currently, the NCC Organization Act has a "revolving door" policy restricting commissioners from directly entering media-related business after their retirement.

However, there is no "reverse revolving door" policy to prevent those already in the media from becoming commissioners, allowing representatives of media operators to gain access to the regulatory body.

The addition of this preventative measure would not hinder the NCC from understanding business issues, as it can easily gain understanding of them through public consultation or research.

Measures to prevent the intervention of business in the NCC Organization Act are no less important than those which prevent political influence.

Amending the selection process helps, but in the end, the NCC's policy for selecting commissioners is only a passive means through which the NCC can safeguard public interest. To really equalize the NCC's partiality toward business, the decision and implementation process must be made transparent and public involvement must be encouraged.

Though after its establishment, the NCC did observe the convention of inviting civic groups to attend public hearings, the invitations were often sent only a day or two before the event.

In a situation where the information is inadequate and not enough time has been allotted for fully understanding the situation, the hearings often become a mere formality.

In the future, media regulations should actively aim toward the principle of "co-management" as evinced by media policy in Europe, allowing public opinion to be reflected in regulation, consumer rights and policy regarding the renewal and application of media licensing.

Recently, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has incited large-scale protest from media watchdogs by bending to pressure from media conglomerates to propose the relaxation of anti-monopoly regulations.

Members of the US Congress have also acted to block legislation favorable to media monopolization. Previously, under legislation that placed business interests first, democracy was sometimes sacrificed for the benefits of media operators.

While the situation in the US has been somewhat rectified in recent years thanks to public pressure, business continues to exert force over the FCC, resulting in supposedly independent regulatory bodies that lean heavily toward business.

The NCC should not blindly follow the FCC's example of siding with business. After escaping political influence in the form of partisan nominations, it should focus on the recognition of democratic and diverse development trends and the rewriting of regulations to balance media profit and social benefit.

Hung Chen-ling is an assistant professor at National Taiwan University's Graduate Institute of Journalism. Chad Liu is an assistant professor at National Chung Cheng University's Department of Communications.

Translated by Angela Hong
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