An act to prevent monopolization of the media, proposed by the National Communications Commission (NCC), would require media companies to file an application for a merger to proceed if the matter involves mergers in the broadcasting and print media sector, while the commission would not approve any case in which the media ownership concentration level has reached a specified “ceiling.”
The commission yesterday unveiled the general legal framework of the act, which was titled “The broadcasting media monopolization prevention and diversity preservation act (廣播電視壟斷防制與多元維護法).”
Commission chairperson Howard Shyr (石世豪) said that members of the commission have yet to discuss each article in the act, adding that they would decide when the topic would be listed on their agenda the week after the Lunar New Year holiday.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“Each commissioner has been given a stack of materials about the draft act to read over the holiday,” Shyr said.
Based on Shyr’s presentation, the legislation would tackle monopolization of the media and its negative influence on society through four different aspects: regulating media ownership concentration and cross-media monopolization; preserving the professionalism and independence of news media; facilitating the development of diverse cultures and citizens’ autonomy; and facilitating laws under the jurisdiction of other government agencies.
Shyr said that the commission plans to adopt four different levels to regulate media ownership concentration and cross-media ownership. If the broadcasting media merge among themselves and have any change in management or operations, they would be obligated to file an application for the merger with the commission. The legislation would also regulate mergers in the broadcasting and print media sector.
“However, the commission cannot regulate mergers of newspapers, because the commission is not the administrative agency in charge of newspapers,” Shyr said.
Though a certain merger case might endanger the public interest, Shyr said that the commission might still approve it by adding conditional clauses and ensuring that the parties involved in the case fulfill those clauses.
If the commission ascertains that a merger will definitely jeopardize the public interest and would not lead to normal market development, the government would in principle not approve it, Shyr said.
“The only exception would be that the parties in the mergers agree to the terms set by the commission and be willing to subject themselves to the commission’s follow-up supervision and regulations,” he added.
If a merger would cause the level of media ownership concentration to hit a set ceiling, Shyr said that there would be no need for the commission to investigate the facts of the deal and such a deal would be rejected unconditionally.
“The ‘ceiling’ we will set down will be very specific and will not be bent to accommodate different individual cases,” he said.
Meanwhile, Shyr said that the commission would make sure that the proposed act would complement relevant laws in other government agencies.
The act, he said, would require that broadcast media present information about their operations to the commission to help it make informed decisions on cases.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial