Although many would assume due to its location and size, that Taiwan media is small and tightly controlled, this is not the case. According to an article in BBC News, the government had control of the media up until the 1980's. Journalist Cindy Sui says that today, Taiwan has
"one of the freest and competitive media markets in the world."
Regardless of the fact that Taiwan is a very small country, it runs has over 12 newspapers and 80% of Taiwanese have [uncensored] cable TV. Not only that, but Taiwan's internet is cheap and fast with over 13.8 million users in 2005 with a population of only 22.9 million. That is more 1/2 of the population!
Unfortunately, with the pending decision on whether the
"Hong-Kong based Next Media will sell it's newspaper, magazine, and television businesses to two local consortia, some of whose members have strong business interests in China, has stoked fears that the editorial independence enjoyed by the various media may be under threat."
Will Taiwanese Media lose its newfound freedom? An article in UNPO expresses that the fear of the Taiwanese stems from the fact that selling these media companies to China will facilitate censorship of media.
Similar to the way Fox News in the U.S. has strong political leanings and biases, the media in Taiwan does as well. "
Despite the freedom it enjoys, much of the media is owned by groups or individuals with strong political leanings. Sui reports,
"Despite the freedom it enjoys, much of the media is owned by groups or individuals with strong political leanings. It is not uncommon to see rival papers or TV talk shows have a strong bias toward either the ruling or opposition party."
The UK edition of Reuters has reported that,
"In an about-turn on Friday, the ruling Nationalist Party (KMT) rejected the anti-monopoly media law proposed by Taiwan's major opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), a move that is expected to swell numbers at a rally planned for Sunday against China-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou."
The anti-monopoly media bill has already been causing protests in Taiwan.
(SOURCE: BBC News - Taipei, Next Media's Taiwan sale raises fears about Media Freedom, Cindy Sui, November 29th, 2012)
The fear for many Taiwanese citizens is that if/when these businesses are sold to China, these groups will lose their freedom of expression. Censorship of the media is not something that is unknown to the Taiwanese as they had experienced it up unitl the 1980's, so it is not surprising that any interference into their media today causes concern.