Blocked media bill prompts bickering

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government and the pan-blue controlled legislature yesterday blamed each other for the failure to meet a legal deadline for the government's release of key media holdings.

The Broadcasting and Television Law (廣播電視法), last revised in 2003, stipulates that the government must have released its shareholdings in terrestrial TV stations by yesterday. The legislature, however, is deadlocked over a draft bill regulating the release of government holdings in such stations.

The pan-blue camp blamed the administration for hindering the draft bill yesterday, and threatened to push through its own version of the bill to Friday's full legislative sitting for debate and possible passage into law -- with or without other parties' approval.

Their version provides for the formation of a "stake release supervisory committee" with membership in proportion to the seats each party has in the legislature. The government opposes such a committee on the grounds that it would be dominated by pan-blue appointees and so beholden to partisan interests.

The pan-blue camp also threatened to force through the confirmation of National Communications Commission (NCC) nominees during Friday's legislative session if caucuses fail to reach consensus on the issue on Wednesday, when Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) has called for cross-party negotiations.

But Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Pasuya Yao (姚文智) yesterday insisted that the legislature was to blame for the delay in enacting the law.

"We completed drafting the bill in June 2004 and hoped to see it passed into law by the end of 2004, so that TTV and CTS would have a year to release their public stakes," Yao said. "Unfortunately, the bill has been bogged down in legislative procedure."

Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) backed Yao, saying that the legislature should shoulder most of the responsibility for the holdup of the release of public stakes in terrestrial TV stations.

Hsieh also dismissed speculation that he pressured CTS General Manager Chiang Hsia (江霞) and TTV General Manager Cheng Yu (鄭優) to resign.

On Sunday, the two government appointees at TTV and CTS, two stations in which the DPP-led government has a large stake, offered their joint resignations to show their support for the government's media reform plans.

Wang, however, dismissed Yao's remarks and criticized the GIO for being "indecisive."

"Such talk strikes me as very odd," Wang said. "[The GIO's] wishy-washy attitude confuses everyone. All caucuses should continue talks and if a consensus can be reached, I don't see why the bill can't become law during the current legislative session."

Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Tseng Tsahn-deng (曾燦燈) expressed the same opinion, saying that Yao should be held fully responsible for the bill's delay.

Tseng, who called for cross-party talks on the bill, said that the fourth cross-party talk failed to achieve any breakthroughs because of Yao's firm opposition to an accord reached during the third cross-party meeting, which included forming the "stake release" committee.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday acknowledged the resignation of government appointees at TTV and CTS and urged opposition caucuses to help pass the draft bill into law during this legislative session.