hankyoreh

seated in the foreground

A large banner reading “Defend The Producer’s Notebook” hung on a wall at the headquarters of the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation on the afternoon of September 24, which marked the 30th day of protests being led by two MBC producers, Kim Bo-seul and Lee Choon-geun. The two are protesting the prosecution’s investigation of them over an episode of their current affairs TV program “The Producer’s Notebook” titled “U.S. Beef, Is It Safe from Mad Cow Disease?”

Since the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries asked prosecutors to investigate the MBC producers on charges of alleged defamation in July, the prosecution has tried to summon Kim and Lee three times, but the producers refused to appear for questioning.

The media should be a forum for criticism, not a subject of investigation. This proposition is like the Maginot Line for liberty and independence of the press. If journalists and producers are summoned for questioning by prosecutors and police officers, it will prompt detectives and intelligence agents to install themselves at media companies to screen their reports as they did in 1970s and 80s.

Kim said she could not accept that the program had become a subject of investigation. She also described the nation’s three major conservative newspapers, the Chosun Ilbo, the JoongAng Ilbo, and the DongA Ilbo, which have urged the producers to appear for questioning, as a political organization, not a media company like MBC.

Lee, who got married in February, smiled, saying he had gained five kilograms since the program had come under scrutiny. Lee said he felt a sense of anxiety and faint resistance, but could still feel the value of freedom, despite the heavy amount of stress he is under.

The two producers are carrying out their fight with the cover of MBC’s labor union. To shield the two producers from a compulsory summons from the prosecution, 10 union members take turns staying with them at night and participate in rallies as MBC executives enter the building every morning. In addition to the union members who work at the headquarters in Seoul, union members from regional affiliates of MBC have also participated in the rallies.

In a recent newsletter, the MBC union accused its executives of trying to read the government’s mind, saying, “About 80 percent of union members say that MBC executives’ decision to order the producers to issue a statement of apology was wrong.”

Media freedom and independence should be protected by media workers themselves. In this regard, the role of the unions is significant. Let’s take a look at how the unions of KBS, YTN and MBC have reacted to attempts by the administration of President Lee Myung-bak to tighten its grip on the press.

In order to tighten its grip on the media, the administration is replacing top executives at media companies with people that will please it. The newly-appointed executives have, in turn, ordered rank-and-file workers to air TV programs that favor the administration’s positions.

Former KBS President Jung Yun-joo, though his term had not yet expired, was illegally removed from his post and a new president was appointed to head the public broadcaster. Now, some KBS employees are in a difficult battle with KBS executives over what the employees say were vengeful personnel appointments and changes in current affairs programs such as “Sisa (Current Affairs) Tonight,” “Media Focus” and “Sisa Planning Ssam.”

Compare that to the behavior of the YTN union, which has successfully blocked a new chief executive appointed by the Lee administration from working at the post for 70 days.

YTN seems to be engaged in the first chapter of its battle with the government, while KBS is heading toward the final stage of its battle. If YTN fails to hold firm in this first stage of battle, it, too, will be headed for the final stage at a faster pace.

The battle is now on between the Lee administration, which wants to use the media as a tool to trumpet its conservative ideology, and the press, which finds this unacceptable.

So where is MBC in all of this? And when will Kim Bo-seul and Lee Choon-geun get to go home?