Burning the media

Posted on : 2009-01-02 12:42 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST

The ruling Grand National Party and the Lee Myung-bak administration blast the nation’s three main broadcasting companies with a continuous stream of fire. One GNP member says, “We’ll destroy them like hedgehogs.”

At the end of 2008, both the party and the administration were busy trying to get 85 bills labeled by the public as “vicious” passed by the end of the year. Included on the list were bills to amend media-related laws, such as one to allow newspapers to own broadcasting companies, which some say would have given the government broad control over the press.

The party and administration’s efforts were brought to a halt when opposition parties, labor unions and civic society at large took to the streets, reviving the “candlelight demonstrations” that were launched in protest against U.S. beef imports in the summer.

Another GNP member says, “Ho, ho! We’ve got another one!” referring to the recent addition to the protest effort in the form of the KBS union.

(Hankyoreh Geurimpan, 1 January 2009)