'Kim Eo-jun Removal' 청와대 국민청원 Agreement Surpasses 160,000
Actual Removal Unlikely... Independent Corporation Beyond Seoul City's Personnel Authority
101 of 109 Seoul City Council Members Belong to the Democratic Party
Jin Joong-kwon: "Better to Leave It Alone... Driving the Democratic Party into Crisis"
[Asia Economy Reporter Han Seung-gon] A Blue House petition demanding the removal of broadcaster Kim Eo-jun, host of TBS's "News Factory," who continuously raised suspicions about Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's surveying site in Naegok-dong and his visit to an ecological soup restaurant during the April 7 Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections, has garnered over 100,000 signatures within three days. The reason for the call for his removal is the extreme biased broadcasting during the election period.
In response to the controversy, Kim's side argued that it was difficult to contact candidates Oh Se-hoon and Park Hyung-joon, and that they were rather subjected to reverse discrimination. Currently, TBS operates as an independent corporation, and since the majority of Seoul City Council members belong to the Democratic Party of Korea, the prevailing analysis is that the possibility of Kim actually being removed is slim.
As of 12 PM on the 12th, more than 160,000 people had participated in the petition titled "Please remove Kim Eo-jun, a biased political broadcaster, from the Traffic Broadcasting Station," posted on the petition board on the 9th.
The petitioner criticized, "Seoul City Traffic Broadcasting exists to monitor Seoul's traffic flow in real-time to prevent chaos. However, Kim Eo-jun openly supports only a specific political party and blatantly disparages the opposing party or politicians, deeply involving himself in elections and politics."
They continued, "As public anger grew to replace Kim Eo-jun, he responded by claiming discrimination. Traffic Broadcasting has long become a political broadcast supporting a particular party, but is it discrimination to try to correct this distorted Traffic Broadcasting?"
Earlier, on the 5th, Kim aired an interview with an anonymous whistleblower raising suspicions related to then People Power Party candidates Oh Se-hoon for Seoul mayor and Park Hyung-joon for Busan mayor on his TBS radio show "Kim Eo-jun's News Factory."
People Power Party's Seoul mayoral candidate at the time, Oh Se-hoon, is seen rejoicing on the 7th at the People Power Party Central Party Office's vote counting situation room in Yeouido, Seoul, as the joint exit poll results from the three major broadcasters (KBS, MBC, SBS) predicted that he was leading against the Democratic Party's Seoul mayoral candidate Park Young-sun. /Photo by Yonhap News
After the exit polls of the April 7 by-elections were announced and criticisms of "biased broadcasting" arose, Kim rebutted, "(News Factory) might be the only broadcast that never interviewed candidates Oh Se-hoon and Park Hyung-joon during the election period," adding, "I kept trying to contact them, but it didn't work. We were discriminated against." He claimed that efforts to guarantee the right of reply were made, but the subjects of the reports refused, making such criticism inevitable.
Amid this, attention is focused on whether Kim can actually be removed from the broadcast. However, looking at the conclusion first, it is realistically difficult. Currently, TBS was launched as the "Seoul Media Foundation TBS" in February last year following the 2019 decision by the Korea Communications Commission to approve TBS's change to an independent corporation. As a kind of independent corporation, Seoul City's personnel authority does not directly apply.
In this independent foundation, senior executives of TBS can be appointed or dismissed by the Executive Recommendation Committee. The appointment rights of the seven members of this committee are held by ΔSeoul Mayor (2 members) ΔTBS Board of Directors (2 members) ΔSeoul City Council (3 members).
Therefore, unless the Seoul City Council and the TBS Board of Directors agree, even if the Seoul Mayor has personnel authority intentions, they cannot freely make personnel decisions. In this situation, since 101 out of 109 Seoul City Council members belong to the Democratic Party, the likelihood of their agreement to Kim's removal is virtually none.
With the Seoul Mayor's personnel authority difficult to exercise and most Seoul City Council members being from the Democratic Party, and given that TBS senior executives have denied the political bias of the program, it is expected that gaining the TBS Board of Directors' consent will also be difficult.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is holding a press briefing on COVID-19 at Seoul City Hall on the morning of the 12th. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Lee Kang-taek, CEO of TBS, appeared as a witness at the 2019 National Assembly Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee's audit and rebutted the political bias allegations of the program. Lee stated, "We assess issues based on media expertise considering the seriousness, timeliness, and news value of the matter, not judging left or right by political standards. However, I think there are factors that ultimately influence the perception of bias."
Meanwhile, amid the growing public opinion for Kim's removal, some argue that allowing Kim to continue broadcasting as is could politically benefit the People Power Party. This view is based on the judgment that the kind of negative strategy Kim showed during the election period could also negatively affect the Democratic Party camp in next year's presidential election.
Former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon wrote in a column for JoongAng Ilbo on the 31st of last month, "From a purely strategic perspective, it's better to leave him alone," adding, "He played a decisive role in devastating the party, government, Blue House, and their supporters, pushing the Democratic Party into crisis. There is still much damage he can cause ahead of the presidential election."
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