Naver and Kakao News Partnership: 6 New Media Selected for News Partnership and 26 for Search Partnership

Nine Media Outlets with Cumulative Penalty Points of 6 or More Face Contract Termination

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] The Naver-Kakao News Partnership Evaluation Committee, responsible for reviewing news partnerships for Naver and Kakao, announced on the 21st that it has selected new partner media outlets for the second half of 2019.

One news content partner, which sends articles to portal news sites such as Naver and Daum via in-link method, and five newsstand partner media outlets were newly selected.

For news search partnerships that link to media outlets' homepages via out-link method, a total of 26 media outlets (Naver 25, Kakao 18, overlapping 17) passed the evaluation.

Regarding category changes, 13 media outlets applied, and 2 (Naver News Search 1, Kakao News Search 2, overlapping 1) passed the evaluation.

The committee received partnership applications from media outlets for two weeks starting October 22 last year. For news content and newsstand partnerships, a total of 116 media outlets applied (Naver 86, Kakao 61, overlapping 31). Among them, 89 media outlets (Naver 73, Kakao 47, overlapping 31) passed the quantitative evaluation and underwent qualitative evaluation starting November 20 last year. As a result, 1 news content and 5 newsstand media outlets passed the evaluation. The pass rate based on the initial number of applicants was 5.17%.

For news search partnerships, a total of 411 media outlets applied (Naver 369, Kakao 248, overlapping 206). Among them, 313 media outlets (Naver 285, Kakao 191, overlapping 163) passed the quantitative evaluation and underwent qualitative evaluation. As a result, a total of 26 media outlets passed the evaluation, with a pass rate of 6.33% based on the initial number of applicants.

Meanwhile, nine media outlets (Naver 2, Kakao 7) with accumulated penalty points of 6 or more due to fraudulent activities from March to October last year were re-evaluated and all contracts were terminated. Chairman Jang-won Im stated, "Many media outlets were found to have almost copied press releases or articles from other media outlets and registered them as their own articles, falsifying evaluation materials," adding, "It will be difficult to pass the partnership evaluation by relying on the practice of easily mass-producing articles."

The committee decided to strengthen sanctions by making it impossible to reapply for one year from the date of invalidation if false information is detected in the news partnership evaluation application.