The Election Commission: "Unilateral Criticism Reported Without Filtering, Influences Elections"
11 Reports Received Warnings and Requests for Cooperation
[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] On the 16th, former Dongyang University professor Jin Joong-kwon criticized the Central Election Commission's decision to issue a 'caution' to some media outlets that reported by quoting his writings, saying, "The state of the country is going well."
Earlier, the Central Election Commission's Internet Reporting Deliberation Committee (Deliberation Committee) took measures such as 'caution' and 'request for cooperation in fair reporting' against some media outlets that reported by quoting former professor Jin's remarks or writings about Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party's presidential candidate.
The Deliberation Committee announced on the 10th the 'Measures of the 20th Committee Meeting in 2021' on its homepage, stating that it took such measures on 11 out of 12 media reports. It is presumed that this action by the Election Commission was in response to Lee's objection.
The reports subject to the measures included many articles covering former professor Jin's statements on social networking services (SNS) such as Facebook and YouTube, where he said things like "Has this person lost his mind?" and "He is shouting recklessly" about candidate Lee.
The Deliberation Committee explained, "Although the Facebook posts of a specific commentator were quoted verbatim," it added, "reporting one-sided criticism of the applicant without filtering could have favorable or unfavorable effects on a particular candidate."
The Deliberation Committee's judgment that quoting the source's remarks verbatim constitutes a violation of election law has sparked criticism from some quarters that it excessively infringes on press freedom.
In this regard, former professor Jin shared related articles on Facebook and targeted candidate Lee, saying, "Interesting. Is he already the supreme dignity of the republic?"
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