Once again, the nation is in the midst of a food safety scare, and commentators have been pillorying bumbling bureaucrats and dishonest businesspeople. The government should stop neglecting its duty to ensure that food is safe to eat, and business owners should stop trying to rake in profits by devious means.
Ting Hsin International Group, one of the conglomerates caught up in the turmoil, is in the process of applying for government approval to acquire the nation’s biggest cable TV system operator — China Network Systems (CNS). The government should safeguard our media environment as well as food safety.
As the regulatory authority for the nation’s media, the National Communications Commission should promote the healthy development of communications media and protect consumers’ interests by strictly examining this acquisition bid.
This case involves the issue of eligibility. Ting Hsin started out as an oil manufacturer. When it invested in China, it diversified into other foods. It then turned its attention back to Taiwan, where it acquired well-known food company Wei Chuan Corp. More recently, it has been working to gain a foothold in the media sector.
The problem is that Ting Hsin has not taken good care of its original line of business — cooking oils and other foods. In November last year, Ting Hsin became caught up in the scandal involving Chang Chi Foodstuff Factory Co’s adulterated cooking oils. Now it is in trouble again, this time over recycled waste oil. Wei Chuan was found to have used more than 15 tonnes of recycled oil over a period of five months, causing doubts about the safety of 12 of its pork floss and meat sauce products.
Food and Drug Administration Director-General Yeh Ming-kung (葉明功) went so far as to call Ting Hsin “unforgivably heinous.” Is the government really going to give the go-ahead for this “heinous” corporation — that is now the target of a consumer boycott — to diversify into the media sector?
The case also involves the question of fair allocation of cable TV channels. At present, cable TV news stations are still reporting on food safety issues involving Ting Hsin. What is worrying is that cable system operators have control over which stations get allocated or removed from which cable channels. If Ting Hsin gains control over the nation’s biggest cable TV system, news stations could evaluate their content with their channel allocation in mind and not dare to report unfavorable news about Ting Hsin. That would have a serious impact on the public’s right to know.
In view of this threat, besides not allowing cable system operators to control program content, the regulatory authority should establish an equitable system for cable channel allocation, such as by setting up a board to review the allocation and withdrawal of cable channels and related matters in a fair, open and transparent manner.
In the long term, the commission should propose legal amendments to make system operators fulfill their social obligations. Media content is food for the soul, so the quality of program content is important. Unfortunately, the quality on offer from local content providers is on the decline.
The main reason is that, in the absence of policy guidance, corporations are keen on buying cable TV systems, but not on investing in program content. This is because content products offer slow and uncertain returns on investment, whereas system operators collect fees directly from viewers and can negotiate prices with stations, allowing them to make big profits with little effort.
They can profit further by upping the price when ownership changes hands. For example, Ting Hsin is offering NT$72 billion (US$2.39 billion) to buy up CNS. Because the cost of purchasing networks is so high, operators are likely to try and keep the deal profitable by investing even fewer resources in content.
The nation’s program content industry will face greater hardships and be unable to improve program quality, and the ultimate losers will once again be viewers and listeners.
In view of this prospect, with regard to both the present acquisition case and future legal amendments, the commission should demand that system operators fulfill their social obligations in such a way as to improve the overall media environment. A special tax could also be raised from operators’ revenues and used to foster the production of high-quality programs.
From food safety issues to media acquisition cases, the government’s standpoint should be one of safeguarding the rights of the public and making sure people can enjoy a safe and worry-free environment. This includes both tangible factors like food on the table and intangible things like food for the mind.
The commission is duty bound to safeguard citizens’ viewing and listening rights and to ensure that operators fulfill their social obligations by improving content quality and upholding diversity of expression.
Lin Lih-yun is a professor at National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of Journalism and a standing board member of the Campaign for Media Reform.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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