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| Seoul Metropolitan Council members from the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) walk out of the session, Tuesday, to boycott a vote on an ordinance to eliminate financial support for TBS. Yonhap |
Democratic Party of Korea strongly condemns decision for 'suppression of the press'
By Lee Yeon-woo
Traffic Broadcasting System (TBS) is once again at the center of controversy, as Seoul Metropolitan Council passed an ordinance enabling the Seoul Metropolitan Government to eliminate its financial support for its affiliated radio station from 2024, amid claims of political bias in its popular left-leaning news program "Kim Ou-joon's News Factory."
Given that the station has relied on local government support for an average of 70 percent of its annual budget, concerns are arising that the cut is essentially a threat to the station's existence.
On Tuesday, the city council passed a new ordinance abolishing the previous ordinance about TBS, which had been the basis for the city government's financial support of the radio station. It also affects English-language radio station TBS eFM as well as its cable TV channel, TBS TV.
The proposal and passage of the ordinance were led by council members of the ruling People Power Party (PPP), which holds a majority of 76 out of the 112 seats. Members from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) walked out of the session protesting the decision, saying that they "strongly condemn the suppression of the media."
This year alone, 32 billion won of TBS' total budget of 46.5 billion won was covered by government subsidies. It is also uncertain whether the station can continue to employ its over 400 employees following the city's elimination of its financial support.
"I am very disappointed that, while criticizing TBS' fairness, Seoul Metropolitan Council has taken the step to set such a bad precedent of getting rid of a media outlet, in such a politically unfair way," Cho Jeong-hoon, head of the TBS labor union, said in a local radio interview on Wednesday.
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| TBS employees protest Seoul Metropolitan Council's decision to eliminate all financial support for the radio station and its affiliates, Tuesday, in front of the city council building in central Seoul. Yonhap |
The ordinance had been controversial from the beginning, ever since PPP city council members first proposed the bill in July. The PPP has claimed that the 32-year-old radio station should be delinked from Seoul City as some of its programs are politically "biased" and "unfair."
"Criticism and controversy surrounding TBS have been continuing for years. Nevertheless, it was an inevitable decision to reform Seoul-funded institutions that lack the ability to clean themselves up," Rep. Lee Hyo-won of the PPP said.
Criticism of TBS has mostly centered on its popular weekly morning talk show "Kim Ou-joon's News Factory," hosted by left-wing commentator Kim Ou-joon. The program has continuously topped the listenership rankings among radio programs since airing in 2016, but some have accused it of spreading "unconfirmed" information in favor of the nation's liberal bloc.
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| Left-wing journalist and commentator Kim Ou-joon, host of TBS' weekly morning talk show, "Kim Ou-joon's News Factory." Newsis |
In 2020, Kim accused Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon of disbanding a taskforce team in charge of COVID-19 quarantine measures, which turned out not to be true. He also said the 2012 presidential election had been "manipulated," when Park Geun-hye won over her opponent Moon Jae-in.
Despite the criticism, his program has continued to top the radio listenership ranking. When discussing possible causes of the Itaewon crowd crush, he said that "preparing safety measures had been put off as police considered arresting drug users first," and it was "the president who ordered a change in the police's priority." Thirty-two of his comments regarding the tragedy were registered at the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) for restrictions, based on data through Nov. 4.
On the other hand, the DPK has denounced the PPP for "violating the press freedom," and threatening TBS workers' livelihoods.
"Abolishing the ordinance is like handing down a sentence of 10 or 20 years to a person who jaywalked," Rep. Park Yu-jin of the DPK said. "The abolition ordinance is highly likely to violate the constitutional right to equality and freedom of speech, and if support is stopped, the right to live for 400 TBS workers as well as the public asset of public broadcasting that has been built for 32 years will be lost at once."
A statement from the DPK read, "If 'fairness' is the problem, it's reasonable to request measures to enforce fairness first."
Meanwhile, the PPP announced Tuesday that if any members of Seoul Metropolitan Council or the Seoul mayor submit a new ordinance before 2024 on ways to overhaul TBS, it will be reviewed based on the opinions of citizens and interested parties.
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