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Corruption and crime
mire TV industry
By Yang Hsien-hung 楊憲宏
It is regrettable how the current National Communications Commission (NCC)
commissioners are handling issues directly involving the future of Taiwan’s
broadcasting industry.
They are doing almost nothing to counteract the increasingly monolithic
Taiwanese media discourse. Taiwan’s diverse and vital television industry is
shriveling as unconscionable financial groups infiltrate and use commercial
interests to coerce the government to eliminate dissent, manufacture public
opinion and dumb down content — all of which turns the news business into a
manufacturing industry.
Given these challenges, the incoming commission faces an difficult situation.
However, when one looks at the professional background of the current NCC
commissioners, none of them have the academic knowledge, expertise or ability to
deal with the critical issues at stake.
The NCC has in effect been pared down to an organization that only deals with
communications, rather than one which deals with broadcasting issues. It has
been alleged that the selection of this group was connected to former Executive
Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) — who is currently facing a major
corruption probe — and is said to have influenced the commissioner nomination
process. If that is true, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration and the
Cabinet of Premier Sean Chen (陳?) are entirely inept and guilty of misrule. In
addition to corruption among top officials, there are also policy mistakes that
might be even more frightening.
The Ma administration and the NCC are giving free rein to cable service
providers to expand. Not only are they using commercial means to restrict free
speech, but TV system operators are also getting massive bonuses from content
providers to run their content.
In addition, as some system operators own content channels, they essentially
become both referee and player. This violates fair trade rules and leads to
unfair competition. Yet still the government sits on the sidelines and does
absolutely nothing.
The future NCC must live up to its responsibilities. When it comes to assigning
channels, the commission must not let system operators behave as they please and
should instead reestablish its public authority. A public management mechanism,
potentially run by NGOs, could also be useful.
The commission must also determine the legality of the practice among operators
who, on the one hand charge viewers hefty monthly subscription fees, while on
the other charge content providers “slotting fees.”
Under the strict review process of the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法), the
NCC should not allowed to simply stand by and watch as some content providers
are still being forced to pay the slotting fees.
Free speech and cultural diversity — the main goals of the communications and
broadcasting industry — are under attack from these vested commercial interests.
The new crop of NCC commissioners must not be allowed to simply sit on the
sidelines any longer.
Yang Hsien-hung works in the media industry.
Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat
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