Hsu-Cheng Chein

co-regulation, regulation, media content, television programs, advertisement, new media

Media industry in the world has been changing dramatically in the past decades. Governments of the industrial world changed their regulation systems to adapt to the fast moving situation by incorporating the civil society to constitute a triangle partnership among government, media industry and civil society. The regulation systems on media content and the civil partnership mechanism of the industrial countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, and UK, are examined and compared. The National Communications Commission (NCC) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) was established in 2006. NCC is the regulator of the media industry and is probing to introduce non-governmental organizations to enhance the quality of the regulation and to adopt the civil society partnership, following the experiences of industrial countries. Policies of NCC on media content are examined and recommendations are proposed. The study suggests that NCC needs to cultivate the competency of the civil society in monitoring the functioning of the media industry and, through various measures necessary, to establish co-regulation relationship with the civil society.