Transition Team and Science and ICT Committee Clash Head-On at 'Public Broadcasting Meeting'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] The Presidential Transition Committee and members of the Democratic Party of Korea's National Assembly Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee clashed head-on over a media information technology (IT) meeting. The Transition Committee included KBS and the Korea Broadcasting Culture Promotion Foundation (the major shareholder and supervisory body of MBC) in the meeting, prompting the Democratic Party to raise their voices, accusing it of revealing intentions to seize control of public broadcasting.

Broadcasting, Telecommunications, and Budget Phone Organizations Meeting

According to the Transition Committee on the 25th, the Science and Technology Education Subcommittee will hold meetings with media IT industry organizations starting from the 28th. KBS, the Korea Broadcasting Culture Promotion Foundation (MBC), and the Korea Communications Standards Commission are also included as meeting participants. The purpose of the meeting is to gather diverse opinions for selecting national policy tasks. Discussions related to news programming will be excluded. In addition to these organizations, the meeting will include the Korea Broadcasting Association, Korea IPTV Broadcasting Association, Cable TV Broadcasting Association, TV Home Shopping Association, Korea Telecommunications Business Association, Budget Phone Association, and Korea Internet Corporations Association. Shin Yong-hyun, spokesperson for the Transition Committee, explained the day before, "KBS and the Korea Broadcasting Culture Promotion Foundation cannot be forced to report their work, nor can there be interference in broadcast content," but added, "Since public funds are involved, there is a consensus on the need to understand the situation."

Some voices suggest that this may be the start of the 'media reform,' one of the next government's pledges. President-elect Yoon proposed pledges such as strengthening fairness in public broadcasting and establishing a dedicated organization to promote the media and content industry. He pledged to strengthen management evaluations centered on KBS and improve the governance structure to guarantee the political neutrality and reliability of public broadcasting.

Views on Initiating Public Broadcasting Privatization

An industry insider said, "The president-elect made remarks about privatizing public broadcasting during his candidacy, and this can be seen as a move to realize that." During the Korea Communications Commission work report, the Transition Committee discussed management evaluation and governance improvement measures to strengthen fairness in public broadcasting. The Transition Committee also plans to consider easing regulations on broadcasting advertisements as well as restrictions on ownership and cross-ownership of broadcasters. Democratic Party members issued a statement criticizing, "It is concerning that intentions to seize control of public broadcasting are being revealed even before the president's term begins." The members explained that it essentially means the intention to receive work reports from KBS and MBC. They said, "Regardless of formality, there has never been a precedent where the Transition Committee called public broadcasters or public broadcasting supervisory bodies to listen to opinions or receive reports," adding, "Especially since public broadcasting has the special characteristic of requiring firm political independence, it is very malicious for the politically affiliated Transition Committee to call them under the guise of a meeting."

They continued, "The Transition Committee is an organization to facilitate the presidential transition and ensure the stability of national governance. Its main tasks are to understand the organization, functions, and budget of government agencies. It is unacceptable to call institutions that are not government agencies, especially public broadcasters whose fairness and independence are vital, to receive work reports."