Following the May 20 inauguration of President Chen Shui-bian (
For decades Taiwan's media, especially its broadcast media, was tightly controlled by the government, while both the government and the KMT had major stakes in most broadcasters.
The DPP was expected to reverse this once it came to power but its tackling of the problem so far has left many disappointed. Debate rages as to the extent to which the government is able to control the media and whether it should do so at all.
Personnel reshuffles
In early July, new management was installed at both the Central Broadcasting System (
The two broadcasters, and other state-owned media, have long been criticized as propaganda tools of KMT administrations and the appointments of their top managers have often been seen less in a light of professionalism and impartiality and more as the handing out of political rewards.
The new government, unlike its KMT predecessors, has appointed some media professionals. One is a senior political columnist, Chou Tien-jui (
Since the government controlled over 50 percent of the shares of both stations, there was little resistance to changing the management.
The forthcoming reorganization at Taiwan Television Enterprise (
TTV: a matter of control
The government holds only 48 percent of TTV shares, the other 52 percent belongs to KMT-invested companies, domestic and foreign corporations and individuals. As a result, the government is TTV's biggest single shareholder but it cannot carry out a reshuffle of TTV's top management by itself.
An insider, close to both the Presidential Office and TTV, has indicated to the Taipei Times that the KMT's former director of youth affairs, Lai Kuo-chou (
Yet Lai, an ex-apparatchik of the KMT would hardly seem an obvious choice for the new government as TTV's chairman.
"If the government did have other options, it would not have chosen Lai to succeed Cheng," the insider said, adding that Cheng had intended to seek another term as TTV chairman and that he might have secured the support of over 50 percent of shareholders.
For that reason, said the insider, the new government was forced to choose someone who would be acceptable to a broad cross-section of shareholders if it wanted to lever Cheng out of his post. Lai appeared as a good candidate because he would probably be able to obtain the votes of the KMT-invested companies that hold 11 percent of TTV's equity and his close connection with Lee would earn him the backing of the pro-Lee Japanese investors who own a further 20 percent.
Added to this, some officials close to Chen -- such as Vice Secretary-General of the Presidential Office Chen Che-nan (
Lai is also, to some degree, a media professional, possessing a PhD in journalism and having run many press-related organizations. In the government's view, this gives Lai a more appropriate pedigree than Cheng, a lawmaker with his fingers in many business pies, a pedigree, moreover, that -- the government thought -- would probably make Lai acceptable to the public.
Some opposition members do not think so, however. They have criticized Lai for benefitting from his relationship with the Lee family and not having an outstanding academic record. Academics have joined with the political opposition to bemoan the fact that the new government's approach was no different from that of its KMT predecessor, and, fundamentally, that it was failing in its promise to wipe out political influence in the media.
The 'three outs'
During the KMT's decades of government, most media submitted themselves to the KMT's will and thus hindered Taiwan's democratization. Academics and the DPP, then in opposition, sought an end to political influence over the news media. Before the KMT government's deregulation of broadcasting in 1992, there were only three terrestrial TV stations and 31 broadcasting stations in Taiwan. The government or the KMT itself either owned the stations or had them run by its cronies.
The three terrestrial TV stations came under especially strict control by the KMT government. As well as the government owning 48 percent of TTV, the KMT owns a further 11 percent, Cabinet-level ministerial and education agencies hold 75 percent of shares in CTS, while the KMT owns 42 percent of shares in China Television Company (CTV,
During the KMT's rule, top executives at these stations were rarely media professionals and news coverage was heavily biased in favor of the government and the KMT.
Because the KMT administration's involvement with media was so deep and its influence so strong, the "three outs" -- getting political parties, the government, and the military out of the three TV stations -- became a central demand of the democracy movement.
In the past decade, the opposition opposed political control of the news media. Journalists and academics as well as social groups even held demonstrations over the issue.
Chen echoed such views and made reforming the ownership structures of state-owned TV stations a major platform of his election campaign. Now public opinion demands that Chen keep his promise.
Tip of the iceberg
The three terrestrial TV stations are only the most stark examples of political influence within the media, but they are not the only ones. Even after the deregulation of Taiwan's media in the 1990s, political influence has not diminished, though it might not be as one-sided as before.
For example, Formosa TV (FTV,
Taiwan's major media are almost all owned or operated by incumbents of important positions in various political parties. During the past decades, bosses of two major domestic newspaper groups -- the China Times and the United Daily -- have been CSC members of the KMT. Currently, two KMT CSC members own two major cable TV groups, which control about two thirds of Taiwan's cable TV market. United Communications (
Eastern Multimedia (
In addition, a popular cable TV channel operator, the TVBS group, once hired DPP lawmaker Lin Chung-cheng (
In the wake of all this, public opinion increasingly demanded that all politicians be kept away from positions in which they could manipulate the media.
Theory and practice
Chen, who had long supported the idea of getting politicians out of the media and who had been of the receiving end of biased news coverage many times, came to power amid much public expectation that he would rid the media of political influence.
Things have, however, turned out to be not so straightforward. The Government Information Office (GIO), which plays a dual role as a media regulator and government spokesman, has proposed a reform measure which differs considerably from Chen's former position.
According to Chen's original communication policy election platform document, media should be used fairly and there should be regulation to avoid political parties using media resources.
As to the three TV stations, the blueprint emphasized the transformation of TTV and CTS into genuine public TV systems by increasing the government's stake in them while largely KMT-invested CTV would not receive a new license once its current license expired.
GIO Director-General Chung Chin (
Feng Jen-san (
Feng said he did not know how the GIO made the policy by neglecting the academic's ideas of supporting the establishment of a sound public media system. The GIO will not achieve its aim by making use of communication professors' endorsements, however, Feng stressed.
The GIO's proposal also became the target of attack in the legislature. Even the ruling party's lawmakers opposed it.
"If the GIO insisted that getting the political parties out of the TV stations was a violation of the Constitution, the ruling party's lawmakers would not accept it and would not approve it," said DPP legislative caucus leader Lee Wen-chung (
The meeting, hosted by the DPP legislative caucus's education policy subcommittee on July 14, invited GIO director Chung as well as communication and law professors there to exchange opinions on the new government's media policy.
DPP lawmakers who have long preached ridding the media of political influence asked what the difference was between the KMT administration and the new government if the GIO simply "connived" to maintain the status quo.
The July 14 meeting ended with no consensus except an agreement to hold further discussions in the future.
The gulf between the GIO's opinions and those of the academic community and the DPP reveal complications in media reform issues in the wake of the change of government. Media democracy undoubtedly is an important index of political democracy.
From personnel reshuffles at TV stations to the dispute about media reform, the government seems unable to carry the public with it.
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