hankyoreh

April 19. The mural reads “Return MBC to the people and president Kim Jae-cheol to Andromeda”. (by Ryu Woo-jong

By Kwon Gwi-soon, staff writer

On April 19th, 81 days into its general strike, the radio headquarters of Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), sat almost empty. There were only three section chiefs sitting inside the office. One of the key demands of the strike was the resignation of president Kim Jae-cheol, who reporters argue was installed by President Lee Myung-bak. Since Kim’s tenure began, MBC reporters have been prevented from covering news that reflected poorly on the administration.

Since the beginning of the strike, many reporters have resigned and MBC’s radio department is barely getting by on assistance from retired producers. The stalled production is damaging MBC‘s popularity. Its MusicFM program was rated second on the charts until 2010 but now finds itself in fifth place.

All of MBC’s Current Affairs and Culture producers joined the strike. As a result, on April 18 the section decided to halt the broadcast of ‘Complaint Zero’, a program made mostly by freelancer producers. The main reason was that the program‘s writers felt they could no longer put the show together with such a small staff. The program writers also disobeyed the order to create a new program by recompiling popular documentary series such as ‘Tears of The Arctic’, ‘Tears of The Antarctic’, and ‘Tears of the Amazon’. The new program would have shown past experiences and process that the producers and others went through in creating these documentaries, a process of four years. The writers said, “We cannot meddle with the programs which the producers created with their sweat and blood without their input.”

Producers from the comedy department are also growing more concerned. An official from the labor union stated, “A producer from a comedy program even came to the labor union and asked, ‘until when, do we have to bare the pain?’”

The producer wanted to know when the strike would end so he could provide information to his program’s talent. But since the producers do not know when the ending point of the strike is, there is no way for the producers to bring back the program even if the producers and the entertainers return at a later period. An official from the labor union expressed his concern, “As in the Trials of Solomon, we are under the dilemma that should we, who love MBC more, let go of the comedy section as if letting a child go free.”

Those not participating in this strike are not invulnerable to its effects. A section chief from a regional office has to work at MBC in Ilsan, outside of Seoul, and take care of work related to preparation for the regional festival. In the afternoon, he has to commute to MBC headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul to take the position of Deputy Head of Department for Outsourcing Producing, a position that was recently resigned.

Relations between labor and management have not changed much since the start of the strike on January 30th. The union side is currently asserting reestablishment of fair broadcasting as well as resignation of the president Kim Jae-cheol, who is thought to have connections with the Blue House. The corporation side is standing firm with the assertion that there will be no resignation by the president. And the Foundation for Broadcast Culture, the largest shareholder, which is supposed to be acting as a mediator, and the Korea Communication Commission, which is the regulatory organization, are merely watching the situation. The ruling party, New Frontier Party, seems to have no interest as well. The voice of the labor union is only floating around the emptiness of Yeouido. Because of this, there are even worries that the strike would last twice as longer than the previous longest duration (50 days in 1992) for MBC.

Everyone we met at MBC Headquarters, those participating and not participating in the strike, expressed the same feelings, that they were ‘frustrated’ about the strike. There were also a lot of opinions stating that it is the president of MBC, Kim Jae-cheol, who has to solve this problem, and pushing on with the current hardline policies would only worsen the situation.

A senior executive from Reporting Headquarters who did not participate in the strike stated, “The solution for ending the strike will come from the president admitting to his faults.” He also stated, “The corporation side is driving the strike by accusing and taking disciplinary measures on senior members of the labor union and hiring temporary workers.” Members see that if the corporation pressures the labor union to announce an unconditional surrender, there will likely be a boomerang effect on the company. One of resigned executives stated, “If there are no genuine efforts from management to solve the strike, people in the middle will have to take action.”

However, there are not many people who think that Kim Jae-cheol will propose a meaningful solution. One moderate executive said, “Nobody speaks forthright to the company president, because he does not listen to those who have different opinions.” One producer who experienced two long-term strikes said that there was dialogue between the labor union and management in the past, not this time.

Kim Jae-cheol’s continued hiring of temporary workers is another grievance of the labor union. The union stated that they strongly oppose the hiring and they have been holding silent strikes in the newsrooms since April 18th.

During the strike, there was suspicion about Kim Jae-cheol’s use of his corporate expense account and giving favors to woman dancers, which hasn‘t helped the situation. Kim is expressing strong opposition to the labor union, which raised the suspicion. An official from the labor union stated, “There should, at least be an inspection conducted in relations to any favors that may have been given to certain people.” A section chief who isn’t participating in the strike stated, “There isn’t any reason why an inspection on the president’s company card should take longer than a month. It only requires checking the receipts. If internal inspection is not transparent, we should conduct an external inspection.”

A senior reporter who is not participating in the strike stated, “I believe it is for the best if the president promises to resign in the similar period to when the President of Foundation for Broadcast Culture is to be replaced in August. And it would be for the best if the union ends the strike under the previous condition mentioned.”

He also added, “New Frontier Party leader Park Geun-hye should not stand on the sideline and watch as this situation harms the Korean media as a whole.”

Lee Jin Sook, Public Relations Director stated, “There is a team organized to conduct dialogue with the union side. Currently we are conducting comprehensive efforts to solve the situation at hand.”

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