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Freeing the airwaves

By Gavin Phipps
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Jul 18, 2004, Page 17

ILLUSTRATION: MOUNTAIN PEOPLE

The long, drawn-out and much maligned campaign to amend the Broadcasting and Television Law (廣播電視法), which will put an end to nearly 50 years of political influence within the broadcast media, should come to a head early next year, when a policy aimed at ensuring that all political parties sell off shares and cease operations within radio and television is brought into effect.

While the crux of the act sets out to rid broadcast-media of its political bias, the revisions are also aimed at ridding the nation of radio frequency monopolies and establishing more public television channels. Regardless of party affiliation, these moves are considered by many as pivotal to the democratization of Taiwan's broadcast media.

"It is an odd situation in Taiwan, as so many broadcast media outlets are either owned or run by active members of the nation's political parties. The situation is still very much like it was during KMT one-party rule," said Tony Lu (呂東熹), President of the Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ, 台灣新聞記者協會). "Taiwan is not the same any more. If we want to be a democracy, we need to see an end to political ownership of the media."

The government currently owns 75.04 percent of Chinese Television System (CTS, 華視), 47.39 percent of Taiwan Television (TTV, 台視), finances Hakka TV (哈客TV) and runs four radio stations -- Police Radio System (警察廣播電台), Fu-Hsing Broadcasting (復興廣播電台), National Education Radio (教育廣播電台) and Voice of Han (漢聲廣播電台).

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) media assets include 35.6 percent of China Television Company (CTV, 中視) and, through its Hwahsia Investment and Holding Company (華夏公司), a 96.95-percent stake in the Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC, 中廣播電台), a radio station that occupies 69 frequencies (31 FM and 38 AM) or a total of 42 percent of the nation's useable radio station frequencies.

The government made de-politicizing of the media its goal four years ago, but it wasn't until last year that party-affiliated media moguls began to feel the pinch. In September, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) called on all DPP members associated with media groups to comply with the party's policy and either remove themselves from office or resign their positions within the media.

As a result, 12 DPP legislators resigned their posts within the media. But the actions of others, such as the DPP's Huang Chao-hui (黃昭輝) and Chang Chun-hung (張俊宏), who concealed their involvement with the Voice of Southern Taiwan (南台灣之聲) and UFO (飛碟廣播), respectively, have left some questioning the motives behind the government's drive to end political influence within the broadcast media.

"Taiwan has so many television channels that people can watch news and national issue-related programs almost 24 hours a day. The dangers of political influence are at an all-time high and there is a now a genuine need for media openness and non-partisanship," said Hsu Rong-chi (許榮棋), president of the pirate radio station Voice of Taiwan (台灣之聲). "Sure, [the government] says it wants to clean house, but it's no use blaming other [parties] and ignoring their own shortcomings. If this proposal is going to work it has to do so across the board."

If passed, the revised law will see the biggest shake-up within the local broadcast media since the inception of cable television in the mid-1990s. The end goal is to create at least eight new public television channels and to clear the monopoly of radio airwaves to allow for the establishment of more publicly owned radio stations.

"It is very important for the future of Taiwan's media. I think the Legislative Yuan will resist making the changes at first because there will be a question of where the money to do this will come from," said Professor Chang Chin-hwa (張錦華) of National Taiwan University's Graduate Institute of Journalism. "Certainly such a move is not impossible, but it will take strong leadership to actually make it happen."

Several options

While the government plans to adopt a gradual approach to the nationalizing of CTS and is still weighing the possibilities of either nationalizing or commercializing TTV and CTV, it has already taken the first steps in its bid to de-monopolize the nation's radio frequencies.

By the end of 2005, all four government-run radio stations will have been nationalized or sold off into the private sector. The government hopes that shortly thereafter, upwards of 30 new local radio stations will be established on the frequencies once owned by the BCC.

The BCC has already agreed to return 14 frequencies by year's end, but the station remains at loggerheads with the government over its demand that the station return to the public domain all 69 frequencies that were given it by the KMT over a period of 50 years.

"[The BCC's] monopoly is undemocratic and means that the number of legal stations is very limited. The monopoly is the reason why there are so many pirate radio stations operating in Taiwan," said Hsu.

"For such a small country, the number of underground radio stations is phenomenal. By opening these frequencies it will enable more people to establish legal radio stations and pave the way for free radio."

According to the most recent government report, there are at least 200 pirate radio stations operating at any given time in Taiwan, as opposed to the 175 legally licensed stations. The government's request that the BCC return all 69 frequencies might be seen by some as one more step on the road to democratization, but it has left the BCC with the impression that the move is nothing less then an encroachment on media freedom.

"I can't understand why the government wants to take back [the BCC's] wavelengths. If we haven't made mistakes and we've abided by the law, then why should we have to give [frequencies] back?" asked Bobby Chong (鄭詩詠), deputy manager of the BCC's administrative office. "This shouldn't happen in a democracy. The government is acting and working like the Chinese Communist Party in a dictatorial manner."

In a recent press release, the station alleged that the government had ignored the problem of pirate radio for the reason that "most of the them are supporters of the ruling party."

Not everyone, however, views the BCC's monopoly in the same light, and still others feel the station is suffering from an acute case of paranoia.

"Party or government ownership is a big problem and Taiwan needs more independent media. I think the BCC should get rid of its party ownership and take a more open direction with regard to programming and management," said Chang. "You have to ask the question: Who do these channels serve if they are all owned by a single political party?"

High hopes

The government's plan to reclaim the airwaves looks set to begin in earnest early next year, but its lofty proposal to establish at least eight new public television channels could take a little longer. At present, Taiwan's sole public television channel, Public Television Service (PTS, 公視), receives NT$900 million, or two thirds of its annual funding, from the government.

If all goes according to plan, it is hoped that by late next year the newly established public television networks will include an open university channel, an Aboriginal channel, a macro-digital channel for overseas Chinese and a children's channel. According to Ching Swen (孫青), executive vice president of PTS, an expansion of public television is long overdue.

"Public television is different from other networks, as it has to cater to many different groups -- Aborigines, the handicapped, children. There has to be something for everybody, which is difficult with only one channel," she said. "As a ban on commercials during prime-time viewing hours hasn't been ruled out, I don't think there will be any problems financing the new channels."

These new channels will reportedly cost the government somewhere in the region of NT$4 billion to create and operate. This hefty sum of money has left some believing that instead of creating a series of channels, the government should concentrate on nationalizing CTS and allow TTV and CTV to remain commercial.

"It would be easy to nationalize CTS, as the government owns a majority stake in the company, but I don't think such a scheme would work with TTV and it's still not clear what [the government's] intentions are towards CTV. It will certainly cost far too much money to change them all to public television channels," said Lu.

"I think it would make much better sense to concentrate on creating one new public television channel and divide programming to cater to the different groups," he said.

Although the final revisions are yet to be put before the Legislative Yuan, the GIO is hopeful that work on deconstructing years of politically owned broadcast media can begin in earnest in mid-2005, when it tenders out to the public domain the channels once owned by the BCC.

Whether the government's lofty scheme pays off or not, the president of Voice of Taiwan, which has been broadcasting as a pirate radio station since its inception in 1993, has no intention of applying for a license to broadcast legally. Nor does he believe that any move by the government to de-politicize the broadcast media will work.

"I won't be applying for a license. I don't see the point," he said. "They talk about giving the media back to the people, but I think there'll always be an element of political control and even bribery somewhere along the line in Taiwan, regardless of good intentions or whatever party is in power."
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