(EDITORIAL from the JoongAng Daily on Dec. 22)

Stuck in the doldrums

In reporting his organization's policy agenda for 2010 to the president, Korea
Communications Commission head Choi See-joong proposed "market expansion through
competition" for the nation's broadcasters.

After its recent revisions to the
media law stripped down barriers in the industry, this move further highlights
the government's determination to nurture globally competitive media enterprises.
At this very moment, governments around the world are working hard to nurture
their own superstar media groups, meaning the commission's latest decision is far
from premature. A growing number of countries around the world long ago
designated the media content industry as a blue ocean of tomorrow and have been
making enormous investments and offering legal and other regulatory support.
In France, even the president himself came forward to express his support for
full-scale media convergence. Now, a flurry of big-ticket mergers and
acquisitions is regularly reported on the news.
But look what is happening in Korea. The lawmakers have managed to revise the
media law after much brouhaha, but the government has not even been able to
select which media company will be allowed to enter which market in exactly which
way.
Much of the blame should be going to the lawmakers, but the government agencies
should also be accountable for the ongoing deadlock. Choi's past promise to
select which media groups will enter the broadcast television market has not been
fulfilled yet. What's worse, the communication commission's senior official even
said that the agency would "neither rush nor drag its feet" on the
much-anticipated designation. This comment makes us wonder if the KCC fully
understands what's going on in the global media landscape, while the Korean
market remains stuck in the doldrums. A growing number of companies are now
asking whether the revised media law will have a real impact on the industry in
the first half of 2010.
It is not the first time Korea has lost ground in the international market even
after developing most cutting-edge technologies first. After developing WiBro for
the first time in the world along with other breakthrough IT technologies, Korea
is lagging behind after the government was slow in devising the corresponding
policies to regulate the technology.
If the government really strives to nurture globally competitive media groups,
the most crucial next step is taking the revised media law into reality and
getting it adopted by the private sector. The government needs to come up with
criteria for selecting the media groups that will be permitted. There is not much
time left.
(END)

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