hankyoreh

the new president of the Korean Broadcasting System

The first radio address by President Lee Myung-bak, which was aired on the morning of October 13 by KBS 1, the only terrestrial broadcaster that carried the segment, is provoking an industry-led backlash. In particular, KBS producers are strongly protesting the programming decision, demanding that KBS punish those who they say quietly allowed the Blue House to infringe upon their editorial authority.

KBS 1 ran the radio address at 7:15 a.m. on October 13 during the current-affairs radio program titled “Good Morning, I’m Min Gyeong-wook.” The address was eight minutes and 30 seconds in length.

In the face of protests by KBS producers launched the previous day, the KBS management decided to run only the first radio address. It was also decided that the main opposition Democratic Party would be given air time after the address during which it could voice any objections it had to either the address or the process by which the address was put on the air. Rep. Kim Jin-pyo, a member of the DP’s supreme committee, was interviewed by the program’s host after the conclusion of the address as promised.

A statement released on the day of the broadcast and signed by some 100 KBS radio producers called for Jeong Jong-hyeon, the head of the broadcaster’s radio division, to make a public apology and promise not to broadcast more of the addresses in the future. “Clearly, the president’s address was an outrage that tramples on our production autonomy, programming rights and media freedom,” the statement said.

The producers also urged Seo Gi-cheol, the chief of KBS’s programming and production team, to resign. They accused Seo of “turning public broadcaster KBS into a propaganda machine for the government.”

They say the Blue House has infringed upon their programming rights because it instructed the station to air the address as produced by the presidential office and without any editing.

At noon that day, the KBS Producers Association held an emergency meeting at which they demanded KBS punish the programming chief and made clear that they opposed broadcasting a regular radio address by President Lee.

The producers association is worried that the way may have been cleared for Lee to give additional radio addresses in the future. In a meeting with the producers association on October 12, KBS management did not clarify whether it was opposed to the idea of additional radio addresses.

An official of the KBS union’s radio division said, “An official request will be made this week to the KBS union to discuss the issue of radio addresses. If the management shows any signs of airing such addresses on a regular basis, we will block the move by mobilizing our forces.”

Kim Young-ho, the head of the People’s Coalition for Media Reform, said that the manner in which President Lee’s radio address was broadcast is a thing that can not happen in the era of the media. This unilateral act by the government to infuse its public relations into the media is a serious infringement on the editorial authority of broadcasters, he said.

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