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GIO denies victimizing certain radio stations

The Government Information Office (GIO) yesterday dismissed claims that its decision to increase scrutiny of joint radio broadcasts is politically motivated or targeted at any particular station.

"Please don't politicize the entire issue. Our policy is not aimed at any particular station," Director-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) told reporters yesterday afternoon.

"As the supervisory body of the nation's media industry, we're duty bound to create an environment where competition is fair and public interest is safeguarded," Lin said.

Lin said that the GIO is merely carrying out the policy in accordance with the law.

It is a common practise for cooperating radio stations with a shorter range to simultaneously broadcast the same program to reach a greater audience. According to the Broadcasting and Television Law (廣電法), a radio station with high or medium transmission power is allowed to jointly broadcast no more than 50 percent of its total programming. The ceiling for a radio station with low transmission power is 70 percent.

Lin made the remark in response to criticism by UFO Radio chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), a former New Party heavyweight, yesterday morning during a talk show at the station. The station is registered as a medium-powered transmitter.

Jaw said that the GIO should stay out of the matter, because it would soon be stripped of its responsibility of governing the media industry.

"It's very inappropriate for the GIO to make such a major policy decision before it's dissolved and transfers its responsibilities to the proposed national communication council [NCC]," Jaw said.

The Cabinet approved two draft amendments in September last year aimed at abolishing the GIO and laying the foundation for its successor, the NCC.

Claiming that he was not surprised that Lin had singled out UFO for scrutiny because of the station's pro-unification stance, Jaw criticized the GIO's plan to legalize underground radio stations.

"It doesn't make sense to legalize underground radio stations while strictly regulating the legal ones," he told his audience.

"I'm very curious to know why all of the nation's TV stations and newspapers are broadcast or circulated nationwide, but radio stations cannot provide their services to the entire nation," he said.

The GIO announced in June that it was planning to legalize the nation's 93 underground radio stations by the end of next year. The GIO will start accepting illegal radio stations' applications from the beginning of next month.

Opposition lawmakers have said that the GIO decided to legalize underground radio stations due to pressure from former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). Lee reportedly promised to help lobby the government to legalize underground radio stations in exchange for these stations' support for the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), of which he is the spiritual leader.
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