📺 The Want Want Acquisition: Should We Fear Media Behemoths or Dysfunctional Regulation?
Recently, social media has been buzzing with journalists and academics protesting the Want Want Broadband acquisition of China Network Systems (CNS). The tension spiked recently due to the “hired protester” controversy involving a certain Professor Huang, which mobilized student groups to join the demonstrations.
The arguments from those opposing the merger are largely centered on the fear of Want Want becoming a “Media Crocodile”—controlling $12$ TV channels and $11$ cable systems—thereby endangering freedom of speech and establishing a media monopoly in the R.O.C.
While these concerns are grounded in a desire to protect the public interest, I would like to offer a few alternative perspectives for consideration.
📰 The Current State of Media: 24-Hour Copy-and-Paste
Taiwan, an island of nearly $36,000$ square kilometers, is home to a saturated media landscape. Beyond the legacy terrestrial stations (TTV, CTV, CTS) and newer niche channels like Hakka TV or Indigenous TV, several cable networks—Era, EBC, CTi, FTV, SET, and TVBS—broadcast news $24$ hours a day.
However, despite having so many news channels, what are they actually producing?
- Early Morning: Cutting out newspaper clips to find stories.
- Morning: Recapping yesterday’s news.
- Afternoon: Recapping the morning’s news.
- Evening: Hosting “pundits” who shout at each other until midnight, occasionally predicting the end of the world.
- Late Night: Rerunning the daytime broadcasts.
- Holidays: Scouring YouTube for viral “funny” videos.
- Intermittently: Inserting advertorials (paid content) disguised as news.
To differentiate themselves and attract specific demographics for ad revenue, these stations have painted themselves in distinct political colors. I can often guess which station is reporting just by hearing the logic traps embedded in the narration.
In my view, an event has only one truth. The responsibility of the media is to dig for that truth. But today’s media starts with a preset stance and delivers a predetermined conclusion to the audience. We must ask: do we really need this many news channels?
⚖️ Scale is Not the Crime; Abuse of Power Is
— This line represents my hope that all redundant news stations would just merge —
The acquisition of CNS by Want Want Broadband is, at its core, a commercial transaction between private enterprises. The public should have the right to legally monitor whether the group infringes on press freedom, and third-party organizations should regularly evaluate media units. However, we should not block the acquisition solely based on anticipation of harm or the fears of rival conglomerates.
Looking at U.S. Antitrust Law, the focus is not on preventing a company like Microsoft from potentially dominating the OS market, but on imposing penalties and restrictions once an actual abuse of monopoly power is discovered.
Professor Kuan Chung-hsiang of National Chung Cheng University noted in his article “Who Tolerates Media Behemoths?” that when media mogul Rupert Murdoch was blocked from fully acquiring BSkyB, it was because illegal wiretapping was discovered first. The rejection was based on proven misconduct, not merely because the entity was becoming too large.
I ask you: Does anyone wish for the BBC, CNN, Reuters, or AFP to be “smaller”?
Their professionalism is trusted precisely because they are large-scale, well-resourced operations. If we use state power to keep every domestic media outlet small and struggling, how can we ever cultivate a powerful media voice capable of influencing the global stage?
The use of public power to limit private development is not new in the R.O.C.; we recently saw the state force a private company like Chunghwa Telecom to subsidize its competitors. It seems our market is still steered by a few.
I am not suggesting that the success of the Want Want merger equates to global influence, nor do I deny that the group’s strong political character makes “impartiality” difficult.
However, what we should fear is not the size of the media, but our inability to regulate the abuse of power. Protesting the merger while accepting a legislature that prefers political “monkey business” over drafting effective regulatory laws is a contradiction. A lack of institutional oversight should not be used as an excuse to block executive execution.
💬 Community Discussion Highlights
Chiawei Sun:
“You admit Want Want has a strong political character and lacks impartiality. If we can’t manage ‘media abuse,’ why support this? Won’t letting it pass harm the R.O.C.?”
TaiwanNext Editor Response:
“As stated in the article, growth and management are two different issues. We rarely hear proposals for oversight systems before the merger is discussed. If every enterprise is subject to extra-legal requirements or administrative delays, that is what truly harms our nation.”