Presidential Candidate Yoon Seok-yeol argued on the 12th, “If a powerful system that bankrupts media companies with a single article that distorts the truth is established, there will be no problem with fairness even if the media is released freely.”
After visiting Suncheon Station in Jeollanam-do on the same day, Candidate Yoon met with reporters on ‘Passion Train’ and said this. Although the remark emphasized the responsibility of the press, Candidate Yoon has been opposed to the revision of the Media Arbitration Act, which aims to introduce a punitive damages system led by the Democratic Party of Korea.
In light of his remarks that excessive civil responsibility to the media was “violation of the Constitution” in the context of the revision of the Media Arbitration Act, which was sharply opposed by the opposition parties last year, it cannot be freed from criticism that his remarks revealed ignorance of current media issues.
In front of reporters, the person who foretold the ‘media bankruptcy’
Candidate Yoon told reporters on the 12th, “Currently, in our country (the press), there has never been a case of a claim for damages or (the press company) taking responsibility for false reports through such judicial procedures.” It is the most fundamental problem of the media.”
On the 11th, Kim Dong-hoon, president of the Korea Journalists Association, who appeared as a questioner at the presidential candidate TV debate hosted by the Korea Journalists Association, asked the presidential candidates regarding the evaluation of the ‘integrated press self-regulatory organization’, but only candidate Yoon refused to answer.
In this regard, Candidate Yoon said, “Self-regulation is not easy and dangerous.” This is a clarification of their opposition to the self-regulatory organization of the press, which has been proposed as an alternative to the revision of the Media Arbitration Act by business media organizations. He insisted, “The Korean Journalists Association says they are self-regulating.
It is the responsibility of the press that Candidate Yoon repeatedly emphasized to the reporters on this day. The level of remarks was high enough to talk regarding ‘media bankruptcy’. He said, “In the United States, small local media companies often go bankrupt with just one false article. Word,” he said.
Candidate Yoon said, “If a small media company irresponsibly throws (false reports) that a large media company will go bankrupt with a single lawsuit, that media company can go (bankruptcy) with one report,” said Yoon. That’s the way to guarantee it enough,” he explained.
He also said, “When media reports are wrong, it is legal to hold them accountable. We want to make that principle clear.”
However, candidate Yoon criticized the amendment to the Media Arbitration Act on SNS in August last year. At that time, the gist of the amendment was to impose punitive damages on media companies for damages resulting from false reports. Candidate Yoon said, “The amendment to the Media Arbitration Act is full of toxic provisions that undermine the original function of the media to monitor power. It also violated constitutional principles such as prohibition of excesses.”
He added, “Young journalists who run in the field have to risk billions of won in liability to criticize power.” He, who opposed the revision of the Media Arbitration Act a year ago, poured out remarks that were not significantly different from the Democratic Party’s position on the Passion Train on the 12th. The point is that strong sanctions are necessary, even if it is not until the introduction of a punitive damages system, but this is also ambiguous.
However, Candidate Yoon said that he did not intend to place the burden of proving intentional or gross negligence on the media. He said, “To tell a reporter, ‘You must prove that this article is not false,’ is like telling a reporter to prove the source.
As the controversy grew, Lee Jun-seok, the representative of the People’s Power, who accompanied him on the day’s schedule, made an additional clarification. Chairman Lee explained, “The purpose of Candidate Yoon’s remarks is at a fundamental level when there is no choice but to rely on legal procedures until the end.
Chairman of the press union “exposes vulgar media views”
There are voices criticizing Yoon’s remarks in the media industry. In a phone call on the 12th, Yoon Chang-hyeon, chairman of the National Press Workers’ Union, pointed out, “Those who have served as the Prosecutor General do not even understand the basic facts.”
Chairman Yoon said, “Candidate Yoon does not know what self-regulation is. The self-regulation is to have a system to reduce the distribution of false information by strengthening the social responsibility of the press instead of alleviating concerns regarding the infringement of freedom of the press (due to external regulations). They say no, but I don’t know what and how they intend to hold the media accountable.”
Chairman Yoon said, “If you take this kind of position, it is no different from that the cause of the freedom of the press, which the people’s power put forward in the process of opposing the amendment to the Press Arbitration Act last year, was just a show. The sincerity of Candidate Yoon and the People’s Power’s media policy is not felt. He showed a vulgar press that was close to nonsense.”
Kim Seo-joong, a professor at the School of Media Content Convergence at Sungkonghoe University, said, “It is true that we need to gather a social stoppage on measures to regulate malicious and irresponsible reporting by some media. It shows prejudice.”
Professor Kim said, “At the basis of the remarks regarding whether a large media company will go bankrupt with one lawsuit, there is a distorted perception that large media companies will not report irresponsibly unlike small media. It is questionable whether it was defined as ‘small media’ and revealed prejudice.”
