hankyoreh

Media organizations immediately denounced the Korea Communications Standards Commission’s July 16 decision to impose a heavy punishment on national broadcaster MBC for investigative reports about mad cow disease televised on the current affairs program “The Producer’s Notebook,” saying they will file a constitutional complaint and stage a one-day strike.

The KOCSC ordered MBC to apologize to viewers for airing the segment “U.S. beef, is it really safe from mad cow disease?” over two episodes on April 29 and May 13. The decision was approved by six out of nine KOCSC members, with the remaining three members having walked out in protest. The six members were appointed by either President Lee Myung-bak or the ruling Grand National Party.

In response to the KOCSC decision, an organization formed by 48 media organizations and civic groups, including the People’s Coalition for Media Reform, said, “We are defining the decision as media suppression and will fight back using every possible means.” For all of next week, they plan to inform people about ways in which the government suppressed the media during the candlelight demonstrations against the U.S. beef agreement.

In addition, the Korean Producers and Directors Association is preparing to file a complaint with the Constitutional Court to rule on whether the KOCSC’s codes for reviewing the fairness of a current affairs program violate the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression.

Park Jin-young, the director of the Korean Producers and Directors Association’s policy bureau, said, “Standards of fairness and objectiveness are not a subject for review in most advanced nations because defining them could undermine the freedom of expression,” given that the two concepts are subjective. “Lawyers, media researchers and producers have formed a team to prepare a constitutional complaint.”

In a statement released the same day, the Korean Broadcasters Affiliation said, “If we were to follow the KOCSC’s argument, reports about the dispute surrounding the Dokdo islets would undermine ‘fairness’ because they don’t cover the stances of both South Korea and Japan equally.”

On July 17, the Korean Federation of Press Unions approved a plan to hold a one-day “warning” strike on July 23. Choi Sang-jae, the head of the organization, said, “It doesn’t make sense for KOCSC members to talk about ‘fairness’ because they are showing their own political leanings by following the logic of the politicians they support.”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]