From: tylee@austin.ibm.com (Ter-Yuan Lee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.taiwan
Subject: Re: Any effort for TV & radio deregulation??
Date: 5 Oct 92 21:11:35 GMT
Organization: IBM
Originator: tylee@leety.austin.ibm.com


In article <1992Oct4.210415.10913@cs.yale.edu>, yang-allan@CS.YALE.EDU (J. Allan Yang) writes:
>  > From: chyang@engin.umich.edu (Chung Hsiung Yang)
>
>  > 	The televison issue is very interesting.  While KMT is afraid of 
>  > DDP using the legalized TV cannel as a mean for propaganda.  (Some people
>  > claimed this.)  It is interesting that not many legislature care about this
>

Is the name of DPP aka DDP (or DDT)?
 
> We all know that there still are many problems in Taiwan,
> especially the corruption in many sectors of public services (e.g.
> military, police, schools, etc). We also know that Taiwan is
> currently on a very delicate political stage and decisions made by
> the politicians on many issues will have significant impact on the
> people in Taiwan.
>

I am suspicious that the sole services that a TV station can provide are
for political purpose being entertaining to the people at the same time.
People turned on the TV to watch variety shows, soap operas, talk shows,
and that kind of things. I don't know how long this kind of programming
would survive in the competitive environment of the ROC market. 

Take U.S. as an example. There are a lot of programs politically oriented in
the Public Broadcasting System. I doubt the percentage of the population
subscribing this kind of program would be as high as the cable system
which is highly entertaining. And the PBS is soliciting the public endorsement
from the viewers like you every day in my area. For such programs, we can 
find a proper place for them in the ROC TV broadcasting system, e.g., Public
TV channel (sp?). For a country as large as US can only have three major
TV networks to survive, there is no need to mention the comparatively smaller
ROC market.

By the curiosity out of the human nature, those political programming
can survive a certain period of time. But as time goes, the curiosity
will eventually die away. Look at the example of the deregulation of newspaper
publishing industry. How many of the DPP (or the like) sponsored newspaper
have survived till date? They've either filed chapter 11 bankruptcy or degraded
into lower taste version.

But, we can not underestimate the potential of any group of people,
especially the people in Taiwan. They have done a great job. They are
doing eye-opening things everyday. Keep this kind of good jobs rolling.
 
> Ideally, opening up the airwaves will give more channels to expose
> the injustice, help building the pressure to rectify these problems,
> keep the politicians in power honest, remind them of the
> responsibility to seek for the best interest for the people (not for
> themselves), and hopefully make Taiwan a better place to live in.  
> 
> I agree that it is only a matter of time. But I also feel that
> without vigorous pressure KMT will never give up its monopoly on TV
> since the monopoly gives KMT a tremendous political edge in
> influencing, or, worse yet, manipulating, public opinions.
> 
> Entertainments are important. But people in Taiwan deserve factual
> reports on events and decisions that could impact their livings.
> Someone, either candidates or intellectuals, should really advocate
> and promote people's right to know.
>

The ROC gonernment has got to have some reason for not doing so, technically
or politically.

I agree that the ROC government should lift the restrictions on how many
the number of channels can exist in today's ROC TV industry. Let the people
decide if those kind of programs meet the daily appetite of the people (other
than stock market news, lotto results, NYSE, ....)

> - Allan
-- 
/* The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of IBM's.         *\
 * Take care and have a nice day.                                            *
\* Ter-Yuan Lee                                                              */