Home > Communication > Article

The Media Act Passed in National Assembly After Struggling 2009/07/23 By Shim, Kyu-ho The Media Act, one of the controversial debates in the 18th National Assembly, has been passed after voting only by lawmakers from the Grand National Party. National Assembly Vice Speaker Lee Yun-sung laid 4 bills consisting of a package of 3 bills such as the Newspaper Act, the Broadcasting Act and the IPTV Act, called as the Media Act, as well as the Financial Holding Company Act before the Assembly on July 22 on behalf of Speaker Kim Hyung-oh. During the physical collision on the floor, 152 voted for the Newspaper Act and 10 abstained. Also, the Broadcast Act was put to a vote twice as the vice speaker declared an end to the vote even before the quorum was formed. Then, the bill was passed by 151 lawmakers with 3 abstentions. The IPTV Act was passed by 161 lawmakers while the Financial Holding Act was passed by 162 lawmakers out of 165 attending. Until declaring an end, voting took 20 minutes. With the passage of the Media Act Package, large corporations and newspapers can own up to 10 percent of terrestrial broadcast stations and up to 30 percent of cable news networks as well as IPTV channel service operators. Vice Speaker Lee took over Speaker Kim Hyung-oh and called a motion to maintain order at the National Assembly and a floor vote. Then, lawmakers from the ruling party and the opposition parties collided. The Democratic Party fired back, saying that the vote is invalid due to the whole procedure going out of the order. It declared the strong opposition toward the result including filing a lawsuit against the passage of the bill. The second vote is unprecedented in the history, making it subject to potential dispute over the validity of the vote. With the passage of the bill package, the media industry will face a huge change. Since 1980 when the Media Basic Act was established, newspapers and large corporations will have a new opportunity to make inroads into the terrestrial networks as well as the news channels in 29 years. Although the unilateral procedure by the ruling party is likely to make this passage subject to a fierce debate, the passage itself will create a huge change in the market. The bill will lay the foundation to converge the different mediums and the media industry is likely to emerge as a new engine for growth. However, the revised draft has been toned down. Therefore, many experts say that the bill may create a less than expected effect on the market. Also, there is criticism that the capitals flooding into the media market could disrupt the public service of the media industry, creating a monopoly of the public opinion. Therefore, the bill itself, different from the original purpose of boosting the economy, will remain only as a subject to the political and social disputes. Meanwhile, the passage of the Media Bill Package is predicted to cause another turmoil in the Korea Communications Commission which has supported the passage of the bill to develop the media as a new engine for growth. An insider of the commission said, “The development of the situation at the National Assembly will be a variable. But, the bill is likely to come into effect after September when the current session ends.”