(EDITORIAL from the JoongAng Daily on Dec. 5)

Free the media

The Grand National Party???s proposed legislation aimed at revising the current
media regulatory laws represents a positive policy direction given the changes in
the industry.

The legislation is focused on easing regulations in the media
industry and
beefing up the sector???s competitiveness. It is also a step in the right
direction as far as taking the country???s media industry closer to global
standards, by allowing newspaper companies and local conglomerates to explore the
local television industry.
The current laws have hampered the development of all-news cable channels and
prevented companies from expanding investments in new content businesses, which
are crucial in creating a global media group.
Korea is the only OECD member country that completely bans the cross-ownership of
newspapers and broadcast companies. The country???s past military regime
committed the unconstitutional act of merging the local press groups and created
laws that tightened its grip on the media.
But now, we can stamp out the fallout from such shameful actions.
Cross-ownership is an essential business platform in maximizing the operational
synergy of the media industry, allowing a company to provide information in
various platforms. This ???one-source, multi-use??? business strategy is
fundamental in the information age. The new legislation carries significant
meaning in our media industry, as it allows big companies to invest more in the
broadcast sector and eventually create a global, internationally competitive
media group.
The current broadcasting stations should take the upcoming changes as an
opportunity to overhaul their own operations and upgrade their capabilities,
rather than thinking of the situation as an insurmountable challenge. They should
distance themselves from the past, when they sought to stay within their
comfortable market monopoly.
We also expect the opposition parties to take a more cooperative stance in order
to create more constructive and future-oriented policy directions.
Korea???s communications industry is already a few steps behind its counterparts
in other advanced countries, meaning it has to work faster to ease regulations
and offer more support to new industry players.
For instance, the latest legislation prevents newspapers and conglomerates from
owning more than a 20 percent stake in a broadcasting company, but lawmakers may
have to think about further easing the limit.
(END)