Korean Job Discussion Forums

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[joesp]

If anybody could summarize the "freedom of speech" debate which revolved around this issue, I would be very grateful. I have been unable to follow it very closely but am interested in what the arguments were both for and against the independency of the news agency.

I thought this became an important issue because it was involved with the independence of the procedure used to select the President of MBC, and the government's involvement in the same.

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[joesp]

Okay, I got caught up.

MBC is 70% owned by the Foundation for Broadcast Culture, a non-profit organization whose directors are appointed by Korea Communications Commission (who are appointed by the government), and owned the other 30% by Jeongsu Scholarship Foundation, i.e. the nonprofit foundation to which the late dictator Park Chung-Hee funneled his slush funds. So, it is 100% government-owned, yet somehow "private".

And, the unions wanted to oust the MBC President to increase its neutrality.
They succeeded.
However, seems like the underlying problem remains the same.
Seems to my understanding at this point that the government can simply appoint somebody else that they themselves select (via the Foundation for Broadcast Culture, a non-profit organization whose directors are appointed by Korea Communications Commission, who are appointed by the government).

So, everybody will undoubtedly be watching that.

Thanks for the link and the time you took to post this.

[liveinkorea316]

There were a number of high profile incidents where he interceded to prevent journalists and TV producers from releasing stories. He had final say. The journos involved resigned and and the protests began in 2010.

I am not sure what he was blocking exactly. It was about the freedom of the especially news division to produce and deliver what they thought was news. But he too often stopped it.