Kakao Announces Portal Daum Media Partner Onboarding Process... "Expecting Improved Choice"

Kakao's Content CIC has announced a new onboarding process for media outlets on the portal Daum News.

According to Kakao on the 4th, the new process replaces the existing News Partnership Evaluation Committee and the onboarding procedure will be conducted through 100% quantitative evaluation. With the application of this process, the portal's entry gate for media outlets is expected to be significantly expanded, while users' choices will also increase. Specific criteria and schedules will be announced in November.

The new media onboarding process focuses on ensuring fairness through 100% quantitative evaluation. To diversify portal news, applications will be accepted by specialized fields such as regional, tech, and lifestyle economy, and it will be verified whether the media outlet belongs to a credible media or journalist organization. This is to check if the organization’s members faithfully comply with articles of association and ethical codes.

Subsequently, it will be assessed whether the ratio of self-produced articles and specialized field articles meets certain standards. The ratio of self-produced articles borrows the internet newspaper publication requirements from the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Promotion of Newspapers, etc. Additionally, to allow users to access high-quality articles by category, the production ratio of specialized field articles has been added as a requirement. Compliance with these items, as well as violations of media ethics and youth protection, will be continuously monitored and sanctions will be imposed if necessary.

Kakao plans to transparently disclose the procedures to enhance credibility. The evaluation methods, procedures, results, and technologies used in the process will be made public. An objection and re-examination procedure for evaluation results will also be conducted to further strengthen transparency in the review and overall operation.

Starting this month, Kakao will collect opinions from related media organizations and the industry, refine the process, and announce the finalized process next month before full implementation. Media outlets that pass the onboarding process will be able to operate editorial pages on the first tab labeled 'Media' on mobile Daum starting from the first quarter of next year, and supply their own articles to the 'News' section on both mobile and PC Daum.

Previously, Kakao has listened to various stakeholders including individual media outlets, media organizations, and media experts through Kakao’s advisory body, the News Transparency Committee. The company then reflected their opinions to establish its own unique approach.

Furthermore, Kakao stated that it has been striving to strengthen media outlets’ editorial rights and autonomy while expanding user choice. A media tab was newly created on the first screen of mobile Daum, placing editorial pages prominently so that media outlets can directly feature selected articles on the main page. Various features such as in-link/out-link options, 'Pick' where media outlets select key articles, and the short-form service 'One Day Short' were also provided. Users are offered sorting options like 'Latest', 'Personalized', and 'Deep Reading', and for the first time in the industry, a sorting guide was published to enable broad access to news.

Im Kwang-wook, Kakao Media Performance Leader, said, "Through the new onboarding process, opportunities for media outlets to distribute news on the portal will increase, and Daum News users will be able to access richer and higher-quality articles. We will continue to listen to the voices of users and stakeholders such as media outlets and develop the Daum News service."