President vows to reform broadcasters

President Moon Jae-in, left, and Korea Communications Commission Chairman Lee Hyo-seong walk to attend a meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. / Yonhap

By Jung Min-ho

Under the two previous conservative governments, state-sponsored broadcasters lost much of their credibility as they played the role of cheerleaders for powerful politicians rather than impartial observers.

Restoring broadcasters such as KBS and MBC to their original function will be the mission of Lee Hyo-seong, the new chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, a state-run telecommunications regulator.

More specifically, his chief job will be to remove the cronies of former presidents ― Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye ― who still control much of the management of the broadcasting companies.

During his appointment ceremony at Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday, President Moon Jae-in told Lee Hyo-seong to recover the fairness and independence of broadcast media.

"Over the past 10 years, many rules have been destroyed in our society. Above all, I believe broadcasters have seen the most serious damage," Moon said.

Moon criticized his predecessors for using the media for their own interests, which he said brought about many side effects.

"Such attempts to control the media must not be repeated," Moon said. "I hope the new chairman will protect their independence and freedom."

But stiff challenges are ahead of him.

Rep. Khang Hyo-shang, the spokesman of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, criticized the President for following in the footsteps of his predecessors in the name of reform.

"All former presidents tried to paint unfriendly media firms as unfair, which is exactly what Moon is doing," he said. "The first step to ensure fairness and impartiality is to guarantee the terms of their presidents. But Moon is pressuring them to resign."

Jeon Ji-myeong, the spokesman of the Bareun Party, also took sides with the right-wing party on the issue. By making such a comment, he said, Moon belittled the efforts of many journalists.

Yet it is true that dozens of journalists have lost their jobs under the previous governments. They believe they were all fired for the same reason: refusing to curry favor with the former presidents and their cronies. Meanwhile, other journalists have moved to departments where they cannot report.

Their vacancies have been filled with those who take no issue with such acts. As such the media companies failed to level any criticism against those people they were supposed to monitor and criticize.

The country is still living with the consequences. Early this week, the Korean Federation of Press Unions revealed what it called the "MBC blacklist," in which its video journalists were categorized into four different groups based on their loyalty, saying the company used the document for personnel matters.

Since then, video journalists have refused to work and left-wing parties have issued statements criticizing it.

Its labor union said it will file a complaint with the prosecution over the list. Many hope that this will be the beginning of a long-awaited reform for MBC.

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