hankyoreh

By Kwon Gui-soon

MBC reporters have passed a vote expressing no confidence in Jeon Yeong-bae, head of the Reporting Headquarters and Mun Cheol-ho, head of the Reporting Department. The voting was near unanimous.
MBC’s association of journalists stated on Monday morning that votes were cast by 125 of the 135 reporters eligible to vote in the poll, which took place from January 6 to 8. Those absent were foreign correspondents, trainees and employees temporarily overseas. The association stated that 92.3% of voters had cast votes in agreement. In a second vote held by TV reporters, 36 out of 40 voted no confidence.
The broadcaster, however, held Park Seong-ho, president of the reporters’ association, responsible for the vote and dismissed him from his position as anchor for News Today. “I was informed that another reporter will take the post without any explanation,” said Park.
MBC reporters plan to begin a struggle using every available means including strikes if Jeon and Mun do not resign. “We haven’t fixed a specific schedule yet, but we are discussing how to respond onwards to this result,” the reporters’ association stated. The reporters believe Jeong and Mun should take the fall for MBC’s drop in ratings and credibility as a broadcaster.
MBC’s union, too, called for a change of personnel and began calling for the resignation of MBC president Kim Jae-chul. Union executives hung a banner on the first floor of its headquarters in Yeouido demanding that Kim resign and claiming that MBC had collapsed. Unions members are also conducted a sit-in protest. “If reporters strike, the union will immediately hold a vote on whether or not to support them and begin a strike,” stated union publicity head Lee Yong-ma.
Jeon Yeong-bae was the object of a vote of no confidence for the second time in three years. In 2009, he resigned from his position as head of the Reporting Bureau after a vote of no confidence went against him.
Last Friday, MBC journalists issued a statement criticizing biased and substandard news reporting and calling for Jeon and Mun’s resignation, saying, “[MBC News] has continuously engaged in silence and distortion to the extent where it can be said to have turned back the clock of history to a time before democratization.”

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