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The prosecution has formed a special five-member team to investigate whether national broadcaster MBC intentionally misled the public about mad cow disease on its program “The Producer’s Notebook,” which aired nationwide on April 29. The prosecution’s investigation, which came at the behest of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Forestry and Fisheries, has sparked controversy for its unprecedented suppression of the press.

The prosecution announced on June 26 that it has decided to organize a task force of five prosecutors to clarify the truth surrounding the incident as soon as possible, saying that the TV program has generated a great deal of public interest.

The investigation is being undertaken at the request of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Forestry and Fisheries, which said that the “exaggerated reporting on ‘PD Notebook’” has caused social confusion. The program is known as “PD Notebook” in Korean.

In an episode aired April 29, “The Producer’s Notebook” reported that a woman from the state of Virginia had contracted and died from new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of mad cow disease, when she had actually died from a classic form of the disease. Though rare, the classic form of the disease is not contracted as a result of beef consumption, whereas the variant form is. The program’s producers claim that an error in translation caused the misunderstanding, though the translator refutes this.

This is the first time the prosecution has formed a task force to investigate a program. Even with the Hwang Woo-suk affair in 2005, the prosecution conducted an investigation, but formed a task force only after Seoul National University announced the results of its investigation into Hwang, a SNU scientist who was found to have fabricated research on cloning human embryonic stem cells.

A considerable number of press experts have criticized the prosecution for trying to control the press, saying that the investigation constitutes an unprecedented use of public power. “Although there is room for dispute over the correctness of the report aired on ‘PD Notebook,’ the issue should be dealt with as an issue of journalistic ethics. We can’t agree with judiciary punishment of the program,” said Professor Kim Min-hwan of Korea University. “If there are problems with the program, they should be resolved with a review of journalistic ethics or professionalism and the prosecution should not intervene,” Kim said. He also stated that the investigation into the program is an effort to gag media outlets that are critical of the government.

Professor Kim Seo-jung of Sungkonghoe University remarked that the prosecution is apparently seeking to threaten the network with the investigation into the program. “With ‘PD Notebook,’ all the prosecution had to do was confirm the facts. In this sense, the measure taken by the prosecution is a warning against future production of similar programs,” Kim said.

Choi Min-hee, a former official with the Korea Broadcasting Commission, noted that the prosecution’s investigation is an example of media suppression during the era of President Lee Myung-bak. “The press has a responsibility to report on events, even if there are some suspicions regarding important decisions. It is unreasonable for the prosecution to investigate a media outlet for reporting on an important issue related to the people’s right to protect their health and the nation’s quarantine sovereignty,” Choi said.

There are also some in the prosecution who are critical of the formation of a task force. An official of the prosecution said, “As the ministry requested that the prosecution investigate the matter, saying that its honor was injured by the TV program, it is right for us to investigate. However, it is too much for the prosecution to have formed a task force.”

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