Government Information Office (GIO) Director-General Chung Chin (
"Our basic aim is to filter out improper influences, both political and commercial, that may stand in the way of the neutrality of news gathering and presenting," Chung told the legislature's Education and Culture Committee.
Of the four existing terrestrial TV stations, three are directly controlled either by the government or a political party. A major portion of the ownership of Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV,
Reforming the ownership structures of the two government-run TV stations was one of President Chen Shui-bian's (
Under Chen's plan, TTV and CTS would be reorganized to become public corporations, similar to Public Television (
Chung said this proposal is only one of the plans under evaluation by the GIO, and it has not ruled out other possibilities, such as privatization.
"The GIO hopes to make an independent and professional judgment on the issue," Chung said.
The legislators said they support the reform, but argued that the GIO should work out a complete game plan, regardless of which direction it is heading in.
"We absolutely support a proposal to have political influence removed from the stations, but there should a complete plan," said DPP legislator Chen Chin-jun (
Chen warned that in the process of privatization, the GIO should prevent stations from being controlled by a single business consortium, which could lead to the downgrading of program quality because of commercialization.
PFP legislator Lee Ching-an (
"The fact that the GIO has failed in the past to do what it should is the reason we now see sensationalism, violence and sex on TV," Lee said.
Compared with public corporatization, Lee said privatization is a more feasible proposal because it would save the government from investing a lot of money in the project.
In either case, setting up an independent system to handle complaints will be a crucial part of the reforms, Chung said.
"In addition to commercialization, it is also possible for political influence to creep into the content of programs by other means," Chung said.
"The complaint system can offer journalists a channel to speak out if they sense that there is an `invisible hand' at work on their reporting," Ching said.
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