GNP, Journalists Differ Over Media Deregulation
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Lawmakers of the governing Grand National Party (GNP) and broadcast journalists engaged in a war of words Thursday over the so-called ``growing pie theory," the rationale for the passage of media-related bills.
The nation must grow the pie first to help the local broadcast industry so that they can produce a globally popular series such as CBS's hit drama CSI or ABC's Lost, GNP legislators argued.
Saying that the business growth of local broadcasters has fallen far behind that of the telecommunications industry over the past decade, the legislators advocated for the passage of the bills, aimed at changing their governance structure.
Television journalists, however, argued that allowing conglomerates to own up to a 20-percent stake in broadcast media was a step in the wrong direction.
The pros and cons over the spillover effect of the bills, initiated by a group of GNP lawmakers including Rep. Na Kyung-won, came at a hearing prepared by the governing party.
GNP lawmakers said the telecommunications industry has rapidly grown from the 14 trillion won market in 1997 to 47 trillion won last year, but such has not been the case for broadcast media.
They said the broadcast market has grown merely to 3.5 trillion won from two trillion over the same period.
``Under the current regulation-ridden scheme, it's almost impossible for broadcasters to keep pace with the sweeping global trend in digital convergence which has been set in place elsewhere,'' Na said.
Na made a case for the passage of the package bills, citing the optimistic view that the broadcast market will be expanded by 1.6 trillion won if they are passed.
The largest opposition Democratic Party (DP) has opposed the bills, saying that being deregulation-oriented, they would only let conglomerates and major print media dominate broadcasting media.
The two parties have agreed to discuss the bills in a National Assembly session in February and ``make every effort'' to reach an agreement.
Both sides' interpretation of the accord they reached weeks ago is different. The GNP says it will make efforts to reach an agreement, but if both sides fail to reach a consensus, the governing party will be allowed to vote.
The DP opposes the argument, saying the ruling party should still need approval from the opposition to move the bills forward.
Journalists of three major broadcasters, KBS, MBC and SBS, also oppose the GNP plan.
They say the deregulation in corporate governance in broadcasters will not help create jobs as GNP leaders predict, given what's happened in the foreign media industry after global media groups took over governance.
``Global media groups seek profit with the merger and acquisition. Therefore, their takeover of new media businesses has not directly created new jobs. Restructuring and job cuts have followed,'' Chung Kil-hwa, chief of the MBC policy cooperation team, said during the hearing.
Earlier, the GNP said if the media package bills were passed, it would help create some 20,000 new jobs in the media industry, as large businesses would invest in the promising area.
Proponents of the initiative also projected the television industry would see a 16 percent market expansion as a result of the proposed scheme.
Chung, however, rejected their argument, saying it was too rosy to expect chaebol to spend on equipping broadcasts with digital convergence if the bills were passed.
Under the current scheme, he said, they are allowed to invest their capital in the media, but they don't because they are not sure if their investment will pay off.