hankyoreh

At a press conference on January 24, President-elect Lee Myung-bak’s transition team, journalists and representatives of media organizations agreed to form a task force to work on restoring press rooms that were shut down over the summer under a new media policy instituted by President Roh Moo-hyun.

Lee Kyung-sook, the transition team chairwoman, asked those attending the press conference to speak frankly about the outgoing administration’s media policies.

Korea Press Editors’ Association Chairman Byun Yong-sik said that he wanted to discuss the idea of restoring the press rooms and resolving the restrictions on reporters’ activities. He said, “Those who suppress the freedom of the press should know from past experience that they will pay a price for it.” He also said that the Press Arbitration Law was being used to harass members of the press.

Kim Kyung-ho, chairman of the Journalists Association of Korea, said, “The freedom of the press should not in any way be violated. The press and those in power have different roles and motivations. The function of the press is to criticize and monitor and suggest alternatives. If the practices of the press have been wrong, we will try to get them right and earn the people’s trust. Those in power shouldn’t interfere with, or undermine, the freedom of the press under any circumstances.”

The association urged the transition team to restore press rooms, lift restrictions on news coverage and strengthen the system by which information is gathered.

Rep. Maeng Hyung-kyu, the head of the transition team’s subcommittee on planning and coordination, said, “The incoming administration will take a completely different position on the press from that of the current administration.”

However, due to a bill that, if passed, would permit a wide-ranging reorganization of the government submitted to the National Assembly last week, it is unclear whether Lee’s administration will actually abandon the current briefing-room system and return to the old press-room system. During his campaign, this was one of Lee’s key pledges.

Last summer, President Roh instituted a new system for press briefings that saw the closure and consolidation of the press rooms at all 18 government ministries into three large briefing rooms. While the president promoted the new system as addressing the exclusivity of the press rooms, to which small media outlets were often denied access, journalists railed against the policy, saying that the press room closures served to only to restrict journalists’ access to government officials and obstruct the freedom of the press.

Press conference participants shared the view that the freedom of speech and the people’s right to know should be guaranteed and agreed to organize a task force to discuss the matter in detail.



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