Song Young-gil "TBS Reorganization? Suppression"... Oh Se-hoon "Like a Thief Feeling Guilty"

Song Young-gil, the Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for Seoul mayor, is speaking at the Kwanhun Debate held at the Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 16th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Song Young-gil, the Democratic Party candidate for Seoul mayor, showed differing views on the TBS restructuring plan.

Earlier, Mayor Oh expressed his intention to restructure TBS into an educational broadcasting format. On the 13th, he appeared on MBC's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' and pointed out that "the function of traffic broadcasting has almost disappeared," and on the 16th, he said on CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' that "once the city council is newly formed, we plan to discuss this in earnest."

In response, the TBS Labor Union and the National Union of Mediaworkers TBS branch issued a statement on the 16th, claiming that "cutting the budget by judging TBS with a political yardstick and threatening it under the pretext of bias in broadcasting programs is the arrogance of power."

The TBS Journalists Association, PD Association, Announcer Association, Technicians Association, and Korea Broadcasting Cameramen Association TBS branch also issued a statement on the 17th, saying, "The media cannot be the property of power. Public broadcasting should be for citizens, not to cater to the tastes of power, and evaluations should also be received from citizens," urging to "immediately stop the public broadcasting takeover and media suppression reminiscent of military dictatorship regimes."

Regarding this, candidate Song criticized, "Mayor Oh's plan to convert TBS into an educational broadcaster is seen as a trick to avoid criticism that it is a crackdown on a specific program (Kim Eo-jun's News Factory)." After visiting the Gunja Vehicle Base in Seongdong-gu, Seoul on the 18th, he told reporters, "My principle is to support media and culture but not interfere," emphasizing, "If I become mayor, I will carefully assess the situation and reform and develop TBS to meet the expectations of citizens."

Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate for Seoul mayor, is delivering opening remarks at the Kwanhun Debate held on the 17th at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers Group

Mayor Oh reacted to the criticism regarding the TBS conversion plan by saying, "It's like a thief feeling guilty," expressing opposition. In an interview with CBS Radio's 'One Round Match,' he explained the reason for planning the conversion to educational broadcasting, saying, "I have been considering this for a long time and have now formalized it. These days, hardly anyone drives based on information from traffic broadcasting. Even I start driving with a navigation app on."

He continued, "Therefore, I want to discuss changing the frequency's purpose to something that citizens find much more necessary. The alternative I proposed is educational broadcasting," adding, "Currently, continuous retraining and lifelong education are needed, and if education through the internet is combined with broadcasting functions, it will create a synergy effect. I suggested considering converting it into a broadcasting service with such functions."

When asked if the intention was to eliminate 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory,' he denied, saying, "Even though I keep saying it's a misunderstanding, there are people trying to push it that way, but that is not my intention at all."