What is the Most Complained About Issue to the KCSC This Year? 'GeuAl' Covers the FiftyFifty Incident

The program that received the most viewer complaints submitted to the Korea Communications Standards Commission from January to August this year was SBS TV's "Unanswered Questions," which highlighted the exclusive contract dispute involving the girl group Fifty Fifty.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to data received by Yoon Doo-hyun, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee from the People Power Party, the August 19 broadcast of SBS TV's "Unanswered Questions" received a total of 1,146 complaints, and the Commission is currently reviewing whether to conduct a formal review.

The broadcast featured interviews with family members of Fifty Fifty members who were negative toward their agency, and after airing, there were repeated criticisms that the content was biased toward one side.

The program with the second highest number of complaints was SBS TV's "SBS 8 News" broadcast on March 13, concerning distorted coverage of actress Yang Ja-kyung's Academy Award acceptance speech. A total of 508 complaints were filed, stating that the broadcast omitted certain words (such as "And ladies") from her speech and subtitles, resulting in content that differed from her actual remarks. The Commission decided to issue a "recommendation," an administrative guidance measure, in response.

The third most complained-about program was MBN's "Burning Trotman" broadcast on February 21. There were 175 complaints regarding the inappropriateness of featuring contestant Hwang Young-woong amid allegations of school violence. Additionally, 84 complaints were filed for the February 28 broadcast for the same reason. For MBC's "True Story Expedition" broadcast on March 30, 135 complaints were received concerning the airing of unverified information related to Hwang Young-woong's school violence controversy.

Other programs included tvN's "You Quiz on the Block" (August 16), which sparked controversy for broadcasting expressions derogatory to a specific baseball team, receiving 137 complaints; JTBC's "Doctor Cha Jung-sook" (May 6), which was criticized for broadcasting incorrect information about Crohn's disease, receiving 135 complaints; and TV Chosun's "Park Jung-hoon's Politics" (July 31), which received 43 complaints over the host's use of vulgar language.