Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Jandar]

Unconscionable Behavior by MBC

State prosecutors are intensifying their investigation into the people involved in the MBC program �PD Diary� as details emerge pointing to exaggerated and distorted reporting in the two-part series on U.S. beef and mad cow disease. The producers as well as key officials at the broadcaster in charge of planning, external affairs, news, public relations and other key departments sat down with a lawyer in four separate meetings between June 27 and July 1 to look for ways to deal with the situation. A report of the discussions during those meetings has now been made public.

The first meeting on June 27, just two days after a translator working for �PD Diary� said the producers had an ulterior motive in linking downer cows with mad cow disease and making it appear as if a young African-American woman�s death was due to variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (vCJD), the human form of mad cow disease. The MBC officials agreed on a strategy of biding their time, holding off on any apology or acknowledgement of error.

In the second meeting held on June 29, the MBC officials agreed that any admission of mistakes in �PD Diary� on mad cow disease would lead to public disappointment and a backlash at MBC. They also agreed that the launch of an internal probe into �PD Diary� could lead to the perception that mistakes had been made. They said rather than show their cards first, they should wait until after seeing what moves prosecutors make. They reached an interim decision not to announce any problems in the program, including mistranslations.

In the third meeting on June 30, regarding a decision by the Korea Communications Standards Commission to deliberate whether to punish �PD Diary,� the MBC officials said it would be preferable for groups such as the Korean Producers and Directors� Association or the National Union of Mediaworkers to lead protests against such punitive measures. They agreed that the size of the crowd protesting punitive measures could affect any decision by the KCSC. They also called for simulations preparing PD Diary staff for an investigation by prosecutors and discussed ways to deal with producers being summoned for questioning, as well as possible raids by investigators to confiscate computer files.

On April 29, �PD Diary� aired upsetting footage aimed at a Korean audience completely unfamiliar with the subject of mad cow disease, showing downer cows being forced to stand using cattle prods and water cannons and being pushed around by forklifts. And �PD Diary� showed the mother of Aretha Vinson, whose comments were deliberately mistranslated by the program�s producers to make it appear the young woman died from vCJD, breaking down in tears as she stroked her daughter�s clothes after her funeral.

As if that was not enough, �PD Diary� showed footage of a patient suffering horribly from vCJD to deliver another blow to the hearts and minds of viewers. Over the shoulder of its anchor, �PD Diary� carried the caption: �Must we eat mad-cow-stricken beef and put our lives at risk?� Prodding its viewers through the explicit footage and distorted and exaggerated reports, �PD Diary� beckoned young students and their parents to hold candlelight vigils. And those candles burned for two months. But it all turned out to be deliberate fabrications, distortions, exaggerations and lies.

The producers held meetings where no semblance of guilt could be found among its producers, while unionized workers at MBC passed out leaflets at candlelight protests urging participants to �protect� the broadcaster. Prosecutors should not judge �PD Diary.� The public, which was played like a fiddle, should be the judge.



http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200807/200807100024.html

[nautilus]

And what about all those ridiculouslly one-sided anti-foreigner documentaries. Will we ever see a similar admission there?

[mindmetoo]

There are the people who smoked out Hwang and this stem cell fraud. Geez. From a high to a new low.

[Milwaukiedave]

Thanks for posting that. I have little faith anything will been done about the propaganda campaign. These people at the very least should be out of their jobs. The prosecutors office should consider criminal charges. My guess is they will find nothing to charge them with or sweep it under the rug.

[Milwaukiedave]

Here's the CNN Report:

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/07/05/jieae.sk.whats.the.beef.cnn?iref=videosearch

[Ya-ta Boy]

I'm waiting for the announcement that PD Diary has been taken off the air, followed by the announcement of a new news program with similar format, a new name and the same old production staff. Something like what the political parties do after a big defeat.

If PD survives, it will be interesting to see their ratings numbers in a year. There could well be a backlash against them over this fiasco.

[Gollywog]

I was not impressed with the CNN report.

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/07/05/jieae.sk.whats.the.beef.cnn?iref=videosearch

It was better than nothing, but not much better.

It still never bothered to get a comment from a single American expert. When accusations are made against the U.S. beef industry, the reporter should ask an appropriate spokesperson from the U.S. beef industry for a response. That is Journalism 101. The Korean reporter, CNN's Sohn Jie-Ae, failed to do her job.

Sohn Jie-Ae says that there are accusations MBC "distorted and exaggerated the facts."

"The facts?" The accusations made against American beef aren't "facts." They aren't "exaggerations." They aren't even "distortions." They are out and out lies. Koreans think millions of Americans are dying of vCJD. That is not an "exaggeration." It is a lie.

Sohn Jie-Ae got one lousy comment from a Korean professor who, while critical of MBC's report, says essentially, Koreans are concerned they will eat American beef and die. He never actually counters these fears with the facts. He never says, they won't die. He just says Koreans are afraid.

If she had used the time alloted for her story to get a response to the initial allegations, it could have been a good, balanced story. But she did not. She introduced new allegations, without the slightest effort to balance these charges.

When you add this to the other stuff added to her report, mention of an e-coli outbreak recall of beef in the U.S., and the opening of "Fast Food Nation" in Korea, Sohn Jie-Ae actually ends up feeding the prejudices of the protesters more than seeking balanced comment.

So, Sohn Jie-Ae's story on CNN is still slanted reporting, favoring the Korean prejudices because it never bothers to state the scientific facts about BSE in the United States - that there is NO MAD COW DISEASE OUTBREAK. Three BSE cows is nothing, considering the 50 million cows in the U.S., and comparing it with the number of infected cows found in other countries with far fewer cattle, including Switzerland and Japan.

If journalists had done this from the start, asked for comment from the side being maligned, this insanity might not have gotten totally out of control. That is ultimately the real sin of MBC's PD Diary, I assume, not having watched it: one sided reporting. At most small newspapers in the U.S., getting a response is an automatic reflex by most reporters and editors. It is the safeguard built into journalism to avoid fiascos like the mad cow mass hysteria.

All CNN's Sohn Jie-Ae's story says is that maybe the cows in the footage didn't have mad cow disease. It never even says, straight out that THEY DID NOT. They couldn't have; there have only been three cows found with BSE, and none in the past two years.

So, Koreans are not going to give up their misconceptions about U.S. beef, namely, that maybe half of the cattle have BSE.

I am waiting, CNN.

CNN, when are you going to report the facts?

My guess is, never.

When you observe how the media handle a news story you know about first hand, you quickly learn which ones do good journalism, and which don't. The lesson is, if they butchered a story you are familiar with, they probably did sloppy or distorted reporting on other stories, too.

Frankly, I think CNN should fire Sohn Jie-Ae, or at least send her back to J school. Such one-sided reporting is totally inexcusable at an international news outlet.


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