[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] The Democratic Party of Korea has decided to push for a media reform bill that applies punitive damages to traditional media, portals, SNS, and one-person media.
No Woong-rae, the head of the Democratic Party's Media and Press Coexistence Task Force (TF) and Supreme Council member, said in a press briefing after holding a legislative agenda review meeting on media reform at the National Assembly on the 9th, "We have decided to include existing media, YouTube, SNS, and one-person media in the scope of punitive damages."
No said, "In the past, media consisted only of broadcasting, newspapers, and radio, but now portals are the monopolistic distributors of news," adding, "There is responsibility, but no mechanism to hold them accountable. Since there is no filtering mechanism for false information on portals, we will also legislate to hold portals accountable."
Regarding the inclusion of traditional media in the punitive damages target, he explained, "It was not about excluding existing media," and added, "The bill previously proposed by Representative Yoon Young-chan aimed to apply punitive damages to users of information and communication services, but since platforms overflowing with fake news are YouTube, SNS, and one-person media, we just targeted those areas."
On regulating portals that supply news, he said, "We will enact laws related to portals from the perspective that it is necessary to regulate portals that provide fake news and establish measures to remove trash-like articles," emphasizing, "Punishments or punitive damages will be legislated according to National Assembly procedures."
He further stated, "This bill is not a media reform bill but a livelihood law for remedying media-related damages," adding, "Since comments or malicious posts are initially blocked from being viewed, damages can be remedied. If the first remedy fails, the second step is to go to court to properly seek compensation."
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