hankyoreh

in front of the main gate to Deoksu Palace in Seoul

By Lee Jung-gook and Kim Hyo-sil, staff reporters

Reporters at 18 MBC affiliates around South Korea issued a statement on May 13 criticizing and apologizing for MBC’s reporting on the sinking of the Sewol ferry. This came one day after 121 members of the MBC journalists’ association released a public statement of apology titled “Mortified and Ashamed.”

“The worst example of inaccurate reporting about the Sewol ferry was when MBC claimed that all the students had been rescued, which aired while the Sewol was sinking,” the association said in a statement issued on May 13. “As employees of MBC, we offer our sincerest apologies to the families of the missing, to the bereaved families, and to the Korean people.” Around 300 reporters who work for 18 MBC affiliates outside of Seoul are members of the association.

“Reporters with MBC Mokpo were the first reporters to arrive at the scene of the accident, and informed the MBC headquarters in Seoul four times that at least 200 people were trapped on the ship, but this was not reflected in the report,” the association said. “The inaccurate report that all of the passengers had been rescued was caused by gross negligence.”

“We wanted the statement to convey some small portion of our conscience and sense of shame as journalists,” said Sim Byeong-cheol, the head of the association, in a phone interview with the Hankyoreh. “All of the chapter heads vetted the statement, which conveys the opinion of all 300 of our members.”

The association of reporters at KBS is threatening to stop producing programs, as they crank up the pressure on KBS President Gil Hwan-young to resign. In an emergency general meeting convened on the night of May 12, the association resolved to ask for the resignation of Gil and the head of reporting. If this demand is not met, the association decided, it will refuse to produce programs.

Back in Mar. 2012, the KBS association joined a strike organized by the KBS office of the National Union of Media Workers and stopped making programs for 95 days.

“Recent events clearly show how the government views public broadcasters,” said Cho Il-su, head of the KBS reporters association. “Gil needs to make the honorable decision to stop being silent and step down.”

On the afternoon of May 13, the Science, ICT, Future Planning, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee of the National Assembly convened to field questions about media reporting on the Sewol tragedy, but the meeting ended without any results because none of the Saenuri Party (NFP) lawmakers on the committee attended. Opposition lawmakers had asked Gil and other executives at KBS to show up, but they were not present either.

“The party has resolved to adopt a resolution calling for Gil’s resignation,” said You Seung-hee, a lawmaker with the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, who is on the committee.

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