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Guarding against
media monopoly
By Jang Show-ling 鄭秀玲
In his speech celebrating the Republic of China’s centenary on Oct. 10,
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said, as he has on previous occasions, that Taiwan
enjoys freedom, democracy and affluence. He said that Taiwan’s democracy is the
pride of Chinese communities around the world and he finished off his speech by
shouting: “Long live Taiwan’s democracy!”
Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), for her part, says
that democracy is Taiwan’s paramount value and that only a democracy that
tolerates differing opinions can bring long-lasting peace and stability.
When one recalls the authoritarian government and brainwashing that persisted in
Taiwan until just two decades ago, one can well appreciate how precious freedom
of speech is. In those days, if one picked up a copy of Time magazine that had a
picture of former Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東) on its inside
pages, the image would be blacked out. Anyone who wanted to make suggestions
about the way the country was being run could only do so by sticking up a
handwritten poster on a wall on the National Taiwan University (NTU) campus —
and only at election time. When I was in senior-high school, we students even
had to assemble in front of the Presidential Office on Double Ten National Day
and shout: “Long live President Chiang [Kai-shek (蔣介石)]!”
These are just a couple of examples that show the lengths to which those in
power would go to keep people under control. To this end, they concentrated
their power over the media and clamped down on the means of expression. They had
no qualms about sacrificing ordinary people’s rights and trampling on democratic
values.
It was through the sacrifices and struggle of countless dedicated and idealistic
people that political parties, government and the military were forced to pull
out of the media. Things got better, but unfortunately not for long. Now,
instead, big corporations with huge financial resources and great political
influence are probing their tentacles into the media, once more posing a serious
threat to freedom of expression.
This pernicious trend is being driven by the growing dominance of big business
interests over cable television operations.
There are more than 5 million cable subscribers in the country and more than 15
million viewers. Cable TV operators do not just collect fees from their users;
they also get to decide which content providers get allocated a cable channel
and which don’t.
Toward the end of last year, the National Communications Commission (NCC)
approved the acquisition of the nation’s biggest cable TV operator, Kbro Co, by
Dafu Media. Dafu is owned by Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and his brother Richard Tsai
(蔡明興), who own Fubon Financial Holding Co. Now the commission is considering the
proposed acquisition of a group of 11 cable TV operators by Want Want China
Broadband, which is owned by Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), owner of the Want Want Group.
These two acquisition cases have two things in common. First, they both involve
investment in digitization, to the tune of NT$5.2 billion (US$173 million) over
five years by Dafu and NT$7.5 billion over seven years by Want Want China
Broadband, ie, a little more than NT$1 billion per year in both cases. Second,
this investment in digitization is a cover for monopolizing cable TV system
operations, with Dafu forking out more than NT$50 billion and Want Want China
Broadband more than NT$70 billion to buy up cable TV system companies. The
reason why they are willing to spend such huge sums of money is, of course, to
uphold their corporate, and possibly political, interests.
Although Dafu Media now owns almost a third of the nation’s cable system
operators, it only owns entertainment channels, not news channels. However, Want
Want China Broadband — whose main shareholders include Tsai Eng-meng with 51
percent of the shares, Gary Wang (王令麟) and others — owns the China Times
newspaper, CTi Television, China Television (CTV), Eastern Multimedia Group,
plus 4 percent of Taiwan’s cable TV system operators. Want Want therefore
already covers multiple media resources, including newspapers, magazines and TV
channels, making it the nation’s biggest cross-media group.
Want Want China Broadband has for quite a long time controlled one-third of
Taiwan’s TV news channels. If it is allowed to buy 11 cable system operators
that account for 23 percent of cable subscribers, it will have control of close
to one-third of the country’s system platforms. In effect, the public’s viewing
and listening rights will be further engulfed by this one cross-media
conglomerate. For example, what cable TV subscribers in Keelung, New Taipei
City’s (新北市) Shulin District (樹林) and Greater Tainan’s South, North and Yongkang
(永康) districts will be able to watch will be entirely in the hands of Want Want.
At a recent forum, Chang Chin-hwa (張錦華), a professor at NTU’s Graduate Institute
of Journalism, said that the media should be a platform for multiple voices.
However, the China Times, which is owned by the Tsai family, has departed from
the impartiality expected of news media. It often accepts embedded advertising
from the Chinese government and has a reputation for always publishing good news
about China and leaving out the bad.
Research carried out by mass communications professor Chen Ping-hung (陳炳宏) shows
that since Want Want Group took over ownership of the China Times, CtiTV and CTV,
a single talent show — One Million Star (超級星光大道) — gets broadcast no less than
eight times a week, and the film and drama section of the China Times has five
times as much reporting about CtiTV’s programming as it used to have.
As power over the media becomes concentrated in fewer hands, the result is that
public viewing and listening rights are once more being restricted. The
pluralistic viewing and listening that our forebears fought for is being eroded,
and there is a real threat that the days of authoritarian monitoring and control
of the media are returning.
It is not enough for government authorities to shout slogans about democracy and
freedom. It would be better if they took concrete measures to encourage NCC
commissioners to make a bold policy decision that would safeguard the public’s
right to pluralistic expression, namely that Want Want China Broadband’s
application to acquire cable TV system operators will not be considered unless
its shareholders first sell their shares in news and financial channels.
In addition, it is important that more people who know and care about the issues
step forward to help safeguard freedom of speech.
Jang Show-ling is a professor of economics and director of the Research and
Development Office at National Taiwan University’s College of Social Sciences.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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