Media Regulator Merger: Less Oversight? 新闻出版总署和广电总局整合 或令媒体监管放松
Despite previous denials, China announced over the weekend that its 2 main media regulators will merge as part of a drive to streamline government — a move that could ultimately benefit both new and traditional media. I have to start off by pointing out how meaningless official denials are in China, as a top official at the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) just last week denied that his ministry would merge with the State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT). (English article)
As their names imply, the GAPP traditionally oversaw printed media like newspapers and books, while SARFT oversaw broadcast media like radio and TV. Since both agencies were set up in the pre-Internet era, each tried to exercise some control over online media when they started to become popular, with the result that Internet companies often had to play a difficult game of cultivating relations with both agencies. The result of this overlap was occasional turf wars, with each agency trying to exert the greatest influence over these new and increasingly influential media.
So let’s take a closer look at this new merger plan and try and figure out what it means for China’s Internet over the short and longer terms. There’s not much detail on the actual merger, which is still technically just a plan since it was proposed by the State Council and must be approved by the National People’s Congress now meeting in Beijing. (English article) The merger was part of a broader restructuring that will also see a number of other ministries combined as central leaders try to streamline China’s bloated bureaucracy.
The media ministry merger plan appears to be a compromise over previous rumors that said GAPP and SARFT would also merge with the Ministry of Culture to create a super-culture ministry. There’s no word on the timing of the merger, but presumably it would happen soon after the plan is passed into law, and be completed by the second or third quarter of this year.
So now that we’ve looked at the plan, let’s look at what it might mean for the Internet, as well as traditional publishers and broadcasters. In the short term, I do see quite a bit of turmoil ahead within the new agency, as GAPP and SARFT officials battle with each other to determine who stays and who leaves. That internal fighting will translate to turmoil within the new agency, but it could result in a period of relative freedom for media since regulators will be too busy fighting with each other to pay too much attention to their regulatory work.
Once the situation finally settles down, both traditional and new media should theoretically benefit by having just a single master rather than 2, lessening their likelihood of getting caught in regulatory turf wars. The bigger question to watch will be what stance the new regulator takes towards the current heavy-handed regimen of licensing and self-censorship requirements. Early signals indicate that incoming President Xi Jinping wants to take a more relaxed stance towards the media, which looks like a positive sign. That could mean the new regulator might ease some of its strict licensing and censorship policies, which would help promote the growth of both the Internet and traditional media.
Bottom line: The merger of China’s 2 media regulators will lead to a period of turbulence, potentially followed by a new era of more relaxed oversight under incoming new leaders.
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