hankyoreh

By Lee Jung-gook, staff reporter

Young reporters at the KBS network put out a statement calling for a “big debate” with news bureau executives and reporters to reflect on coverage of the Sewol ferry sinking.

The reporters, who represent all members of KBS’s 38th to 40th recruiting classes and have been at the network for less than three years, were responding to the ongoing controversy over inaccurate and misleading reporting on the tragedy.

The statement, titled “We reflect on KBS’s sinking journalism standards,” was released on the afternoon of May 7 by 55 KBS reporters and photojournalists.

“We wish to propose a big debate with the news bureau chief, the newsroom director, and all the journalists who took part in covering the Sewol tragedy to reflect on the way it has been reported on,” it read.

“We intend to keep ‘reflecting’ with our more experienced colleagues until the news bureau leadership responds sincerely,” the reporters added.

Earlier that morning, ten of the reporters posted messages on the network’s internal online bulletin board calling for reflection on the “shameless reporting of the network in charge of disaster coverage.”

Blasting the network’s coverage of a visit by President Park Geun-hye, one reporter wrote, “The report on the President’s first visit to Jindo left out everything that the family members were saying at Jindo Gymnasium. The harsh voices disappeared, and all that went out was the President‘s voice and her basking in applause.”

“When the President paid condolences at the Ansan memorial, the coverage was edited in a way that led viewers to believe a mourner was the grandmother of one of the missing passengers,” the reporter added as an example of misleading reporting.

Critics have been lambasting KBS for repeated reports on the “emotional security services” Park has been receiving.

A second reporter asked, “Does it fit with KBS’s reason for being for it to be a broadcast van parroting things without content, or to copy what it says in the morning news?”

A third reporter wrote, “I’m afraid to even wear a jacket with the KBS logo at Paengmok Port. My first thought is how I’m going to avoid being glared at and rebuked by the public.”

The messages were later deleted by the network, sources reported.

The same day, the KBS office of the National Union of Media Workers put out its own statement criticizing the network.

“We can no longer bear to watch KBS as it sinks,” the statement said before calling on network president Gil Hwan-young, news bureau director Im Chang-geon, and news room chief Kim Si-gon to “apologize to the public and step down right now.”

“With the newer employees taking action, a lot of the veteran journalists are saying, ‘We can’t just sit here and do nothing,‘” said a member of the union on condition of anonymity.

On the night of May 7, the KBS newsroom made an official response, “We are listening to the young reporters’ various opinions and plan to hold a debate if needed. We will revise the standards of reporting on accidents and disasters after gathering reporters’ opinions.”

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