Academics and government officials yesterday expressed lukewarm support for President Chen Shui-bian's (
"Although I support the idea, I'm afraid that it's just another political gimmick Chen staged to make good on his own election promise in the run up to next year's presidential election," said Roger H. D. Hsi (
Even if the draft amendments to the Broadcasting and Television Law (
"Because they can easily find a way to control the media from behind the scenes just like some of them are doing now," he said.
The proposed amendment -- which has passed the first reading in the legislature in December, stipulates that elected government officials, civil servants and party members would be banned from assuming any position or owning stakes in the media.
Hsic also voiced concerns over the feasibility of implementing the revised law.
"The idea sounds good, but the implementation seems hard because the local media climate is not mature enough," Hsic said.
To make the law more effective, Hsic said that it is necessary to have supplementary measures such as the establishment of a supervisory body of the mass media.
In the draft amendments of the Organic Law of the Executive Yuan, the Cabinet has proposed setting up a national communication commission as an indepen-dent Cabinet agency. The commission's major task would be to regulate the telecommunications industry, on-line information and mass media.
The draft is awaiting approval by the legislature.
A Cabinet official, who asked not to be named, said "Although it sounds like a great idea that military personnel, government officials or political parties should withdraw from the media, it's hard to implement the policy," the official said. "I mean if they really want to control the media, they can always find a loophole to do so, can't they?"
The official said that the Cabinet has compiled a preliminary list of the owners and shareholders of TV companies and radio stations. The list, however, will not be made available unless the amendments are passed.
Although the official refused to reveal more details on the list, he revealed that they have completed screening lawmakers, county commissioners and city mayors.
"We still need to check on 10,000 city councilors, 6,000 borough wardens and 2,700 village administrators," he said.
He also questioned the need to compile the list.
"So, if you're found to own 0.2 percent of a tiny, regional radio station, so what? I don't see much difference here between owning the stakes and forsaking them," he said.
A better way to solve the problem is to let the free market mech-anism take control, the official said.
"The less government interference, the better," he said.
"If the public dislikes a certain TV channel or radio station which they think is manipulated by a certain party or individual they detest, they simply refuse to watch it or listen to it. It's that darn simple," he said.
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