|
Restoring faith in media balance
By Lu I-ming 呂一銘
During its more than two years in office, the administration of President Ma
Ying-jeou (馬英九) has used taxpayers’ money to buy space or time in the media in
an attempt to create illusions about its policy achievements, while at the same
time clamping down on media that express opinions at variance with its own. For
example, the government refused for a long time to grant a broadcast licence to
Next TV and now the National Communications Commission (NCC) has disciplined the
ERA communications group by revoking the broadcasting licence of its variety TV
channel. When it comes to the government’s own embedded marketing, however, the
NCC does nothing.
These blatant moves to clamp down on certain media outlets have produced a
climate of intimidation throughout the media sector. Washington-based watchdog
group Freedom House has lowered its ranking for press freedom in Taiwan for two
years in a row, specifying Taiwanese media’s acceptance of embedded marketing by
the government as one of the main reasons. The UK-based Economist Intelligence
Unit went so far as to reclassify Taiwan as a “flawed democracy.”
Who allowed the NCC’s power to reach this unimaginable level? Governing and
opposition party politicians must bear some of the blame for letting this
happen, as must society as a whole. While political parties all want control
over the media, society has failed to play its role of pressuring and monitoring
government bodies, thus allowing the NCC to act in this unbridled fashion. Over
the years there have been many calls and campaigns for the Chinese Nationalist
Party (KMT), the government and the military to pull out of the media, but it
seems the media has once again become a tool in the hands of political parties —
all the more so now that Ma has control of all branches of government. In July,
the legislature’s Organic Laws and Statutes Bureau published a report on
embedded marketing, questioning whether the Ma administration was guilty of
undermining the media’s role and responsibilities as the fourth estate.
Advanced democratic countries all have rules about embedded marketing — or
policy placement — by the government. For example, the US government needs to
get approval from Congress before it can allocate a budget for public
information. Britain’s regulations are particularly strict, allowing the
government to disseminate information only of a public service nature and
forbidding it from using the media for other kinds of propaganda. EU regulations
are very strict too, forbidding news and current affairs programs from accepting
sponsorship or embedded marketing. There are many such examples and we would do
well to learn from the experience of these other countries.
Although the NCC is a product of compromise between Taiwan’s rival pan-blue and
pan-green political forces, the people running it have forgotten that they are
supposed to play an impartial role and they have abandoned their duty to uphold
the core values of the media.
By wielding various laws, including the three broadcasting acts, the
Computer-Processed Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法), the Children and
Youth Welfare Act (兒童及少年福利法) and others, NCC bureaucrats have the power to
approve or reject licence applications, which means life or death for media
outlets, and to set the amount of administrative fines. Regulations governing
termination of broadcasting rights as a penalty under the Radio and Television
Act (廣播電視法) and Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法) state that stations that
have been instructed three times to abide by the rules, but fail to do so, can
be ordered to stop broadcasting.
The NCC’s remit extends over everything from radio and television to digital
convergence media, not to mention cinema, and even how much mobile phone
providers and cable television companies can charge for their services. It has
authority over who can and cannot invest in news media, and over embedded
marketing, advertising on Web pages, and even concerts, songs and music albums.
As the Internet, electronic information and a variety of storage media continue
to develop, the NCC’s powers are certain to grow even broader over time. The NCC
is answerable only to the Cabinet and all it needs to exert control over the
media is to quote from the various laws and regulations, sometimes interpreting
them rather broadly. The NCC’s revocation of ERA TV Variety channel’s licence
and its repeated refusal to grant a broadcasting licence to Next TV are examples
of its use of this power to interpret the law. It is no good complaining — the
NCC is an “independent” body and it can do more or less as it chooses.
The process for appointing NCC commissioners is that they are nominated by the
premier and subject to approval by the legislature. That being the case, the
Cabinet and the legislature cannot shirk their responsibility for monitoring the
NCC. Just as that body’s powers have been endowed through legislation, so can
they be changed through legislative amendments. Besides, the NCC is subject to
oversight by the Control Yuan, so there is no need to just meekly go along with
whatever the NCC decides. If the premier and legislators fail to act, they will
have nobody but themselves to blame when problems arise.
Lu I-ming is the former publisher and president of Taiwan Shin
Sheng Daily News.
|
