hankyoreh

Yoon Do-hyun, the chair of the People Power Party’s special committee on media policy, and Kim Jang-kyom, the chair of the ruling party’s special committee on “preventing fake news and rumors,” are joined by other lawmakers as they file a complaint at the National Police Agency against Kim Man-bae, Shin Hak-lim, and journalists who reported on their allegedly faked interview. (Yonhap)

With public prosecutors announcing that they will be investigating press outlets that quoted Shin Hak-lim’s interview of Kim Man-bae for Newstapa or published similar reports, critics are calling the move a tactic to intimidate press outlets that have been critical of the current administration.

Such claims are bolstered by the fact that it is uncommon for the prosecution to announce compulsory investigations into not only the initial reporting, but also into the media outlets that quoted it.

Prosecutors intend to look into the process by which MBC — where four reporters were named in criminal complaints by the ruling People Power Party — reported on the issue, but also various media outlets that quoted the interview.

Shin was found to have received 165 million won from Kim, the majority shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu with links to a real estate development scandal in Seongnam’s Daejang neighborhood.

Regarding media outlets that quoted the interview or made similar reports, an official with the prosecution service said, “We believe that we need to check the specifics of how and why they were reported, as well as the fact that a series of reports followed.”

Typically when the authenticity of reporting by the press is called into question and an investigation is launched, the point of the probe is to examine whether the report is defamatory. It is uncommon for law enforcement to expand their investigation to include reports that cited the original reporting.

However, the general consensus is that it is difficult to prove defamation unless the person knows that the report they are quoting is erroneous but decides to cite it nonetheless.

“Civil liability can be recognized in some cases if one made little effort to check the veracity of the claims they are quoting, but criminal liability is judged more strictly by the court,” a judge-turned-lawyer told the Hankyoreh, adding that the investigation “looks like an attempt to muzzle the press.”

A chief judge at a court in the greater Seoul area also told the Hankyoreh that it “won’t be easy” to take issue with the reports in question, “as they provided counterarguments when quoting the interview.”

“The investigation seems to be intended as a scare tactic,” the judge added.

Proving criminal liability for reports that go beyond simply quoting Shin’s interview by making efforts to independently verify it won’t be easy. A lawyer specializing in media law explained that reports “that made efforts to verify whether the interview transcript was false or not can avoid criminal liability even if unable to prove the transcript’s veracity.”

Another lawyer with extensive experience with media litigation also remarked, “In similar cases, the court mainly looked at whether every effort was made to get the perspective of the person who would be negatively impacted the most due to the report in question.”

MBC, whose journalists were named in a criminal complaint by the People Power Party, presented an audio recording of the claims Kim made during his interview with Shin, juxtaposing it with a counterargument from then-presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol. The broadcaster also included in its coverage Shin’s rejection of its request for a transcript of the entire interview, even detailing its own investigation into the alleged cover-up of the Busan Savings Bank case in a separate report.

“MBC can be judged as having scrutinized Newstapa’s report,” a lawyer specializing in media law stated.

In a statement released on Thursday, the National Union of Media Workers claimed that “not covering a recorded interview of Kim, a key figure in the Daejang neighborhood case, could in itself stir controversy.”

Concerns that the prosecution service is using Shin’s interview of Kim for Newstapa as an excuse to investigate other news outlets in order to intimidate those critical of the current administration are being raised within the media industry.

“It is the basic responsibility of the press to maintain accuracy when quoting other reports by determining their truth and veracity,” said Kim Seo-joong, a professor of journalism at Sungkonghoe University. “But the launch of a compulsory investigation by the prosecution service despite existing procedures through which corrections and refutations can be requested increases the likelihood of the violation of free speech, which is guaranteed by the Constitution.”

By Oh Yeon-seo, staff reporter; Jeon Gwang-joon, staff reporter; Lee Jung-gook, staff reporter

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