Cabinet to draft media proposals

Aiming to realize President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) call to free the media from political influence, the Executive Yuan is set to present its own proposed amendments to the Broadcasting and Television Law (廣電法) next week.

The Government Information Office (GIO) is scheduled to hold a public hearing tomorrow to solicit opinions from experts and academics on the proposal before sending it to the legislature for further review.

Another proposal, presented by the DPP legislative caucus last year, passed its first reading in December but failed to win the support of the KMT and TSU during cross-party negotiations.

Lawmakers across party lines, however, agreed that they will put the proposal to a vote at the plenary session if they fail to reach a consensus during a third round of cross-party negotiations.

According to Hung Chiang-chuan (洪瓊娟), deputy director-general of the GIO, the Cabinet's proposal would ban certain civil servants, political party members, military personnel and their family members from owning more than a 50 percent stake in radio stations and a 10 percent stake in television stations.

Foreigners and Chinese would also be prohibited from investing in terrestrial television stations. Foreign investment in cable television stations would be limited to a 60 percent stake, while ownership of satellite television stations would not be regulated.

Aiming to protect the media industry from being monopolized, Hung said that the government also plans to implement a three-phase program to gradually integrate the nation's 47 cable-service zones into one.

Currently, the market has five conglomerates plus 23 independent service providers offering cable service in the nation's 47 zones. Thirty of the zones are monopolized by a single service provider.

To offer viewers more choice, Hung said, the government also plans to allow fixed-line telecommunication providers to enter the market.

In addition, to encourage service providers to push quality instead of quantity, the government plans to push a revised rate system. Under that system, viewers would have the option of paying more to subscribe to premium channels such as HBO or Cinemax and pay less for ordinary channels.

According to DPP Legislator Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉), the party's draft would bar six categories of government officials, civil servants and party members from assuming certain positions or holding stakes in electronic media organizations.

Government officials listed in the draft include the head of state, the vice president, the premier and vice premier as well as the presidents and vice presidents of the Legislative Yuan, Judicial Yuan, Examination Yuan and Control Yuan.

Also included are lawmakers, paid government advisers, administrative officials and elected local government chiefs.

Party members include officials of party headquarters and local chapters.

Government officials, civil servants and party members would be prohibited from assuming the positions of chairman, manager, honorary director or founder in the electronic media industry.

KMT legislative whip Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) said that his party will gradually get rid of its stakes in media organizations to free the media from political influence.

"We'll eventually withdraw from the media industry since it's the public's wish," Liu said.

The KMT, though swept from power, has managed to maintain its dominance over the China Television Company (中視) and Broadcasting Corporation of China (中廣), among other media assets.