Some of the contents of the JoongAng Ilbo column that pointed out the problem of fake news were found to be different from the facts. The JoongAng Ilbo published a correction report on this column on the 21st.
JoongAng Ilbo columnist Oh Byung-sang, who served as the JoongAng Ilbo news general manager and editor, said on December 8 last year, <가짜뉴스 시대, 진짜뉴스 읽기 5가지 팁> column was published. It is said that since unreliable information is spreading online recently, efforts are needed to accurately read the news.
Columnist Byungsang Oh’s proposed method is simple, such as △using the news big data service Big Kinds △confirming whether the information was published by an official media company △confirming the source of the information △using the British public broadcaster BBC.
The problem is that while introducing the case of ‘fake news’, Kang Jin-gu, a former reporter for the Kyunghyang Shinmun, and The Exploration were cited as examples, and information that was different from the facts was included in the column.
Columnist Oh Byeong-sang commented on reporter Kang Jin-goo’s YouTube activities, saying, “It was reasonable to choose YouTube over the Kyunghyang Shinmun. It would have been attractive that he might freely expose the suspicions he was certain of, but basically, it was important that he might make money from YouTube activities like this.” Reporter Kang Jin-goo wrote an article to the effect of ‘I chose YouTube for money’ without clear evidence why he started YouTube activities. In addition, The Tamsa is a YouTube channel and an internet newspaper registered as a periodical.
Columnist Oh Byeong-sang also said that reporter Kang Jin-goo created a YouTube open empathy TV specializing in exploration in 2019, three years before the Kyunghyang Shinmun was fired, but it was not true. In an interview with Sisa News in October last year, Jeong Chun-su, PD of Open Sympathy TV, revealed that Open Sympathy TV was founded by him in April 2020, and that he was introduced to reporter Jin-goo Kang in November of that year and worked together.
The Tamsa applied for mediation to the Press Arbitration Committee, and the JoongAng Ilbo agreed to publish the corrected report and counterargument report. On the 21st, the JoongAng Ilbo said through a “correction” notification on page 26, “As a result of fact-checking, The Tam is a newspaper registered as an Internet newspaper under the Newspaper Act and is making money with sensational and partisan reporting. did.
In the correction information posted online, “(Reporter Jin-goo Kang) never established Open Sympathy TV in 2019, and officially reported to the company for outside activities and appeared on Open Sympathy TV, so we will rectify this.” there was.
Reporter Kang Jin-goo’s counterargument report on the process of dismissal from the Kyunghyang Shinmun was also added. The JoongAng Ilbo said, “Reporter Jin-goo Kang said, ‘At the time of being suspended for one month in 2020, the Kyunghyang Shinmun had been operating as a reporting system following first publishing in the case of Internet articles, so it is not true that the article was published without obtaining approval from the company. It has nothing to do with me,” he wrote.
