Legislators split on how to reform media

Legislators speaking at at a press conference held by the Alliance for the Democratization of Terrestrial TV (ADTV, 無線電視民主聯盟) yesterday urged scholars and politicians to cooperate and develop a common strategy for restructuring Taiwan's media.

Scholars, non-governmental organizations and lawmakers are calling on all political parties and politicians to get out of the media business.

However, the next step -- dealing with media organizations with ties to the government and political parties -- has generated controversy.

KMT legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) warned that the controversy between two opposing camps for restructuring Taiwan's media may obstruct progress.

"The two sides should reach a consensus on the issue as soon as possible; otherwise, I am afraid nothing will change," Chen said.

Commercial ventures

ADTV has suggested the government invest more money in TTV (台視) and CTS (華視) but with the provision that the two stations be run as commercial ventures by an appointed professional manager or board of directors.

However, another alliance, lead by People First Party (PFP) legislator Diane Lee (李慶安), believes that forcing the government and political parties to sell their shares in terrestrial TV is the only way to solve the problem.

ADTV worries that if the government sells its shares, the two TV stations would be privatized and lose control over program quality. Lee, however, said that Taiwan is not mature enough to practice the ADTV proposal.

Feng Chien-san (馮建三), executive director of ADTV, admitted that further discussions are necessary. Speaking at yesterday's news conference, he said that his group will continue communicating with Lee's alliance in hopes of finding possible points of agreement.

Sisy Chen(陳文茜), representing the KMT as a TTV board member, said that she has no preference for either proposal. The government, which prefers ADTV's proposal, has to prove that the idea is workable, Chen said.

Tight control

"The government has tight control over TTV and CTS, but the quality of the two stations has been going down. If the government can improve TTV's program quality in six months, I would vote for the ADTV proposal," Chen said.

Chen added that her goal is to restructure the two stations to make them a center for the Chinese-language media.

Lee and her PFP colleagues have proposed an amendment to the Broadcasting and Television Law (廣播電視法) that suggests regulations be added to restrict the government and parties from managing or investing in broadcast industries.

The proposed amendments also demand that the government and parties relinquish their ownership in the media within a year. The amendment will be reviewed for its first reading in the Legislative Yuan today.

Currently, 47.39 percent of TTV shares and 74.95 percent of CTS shares are held by the government.

The government's stakes in both stations long predates the DPP government.

TTV was founded in 1962 and CTS in 1972, both with investment from the then-KMT government.