Naver Unlikely to Complete Media Entry Review Committee Formation This Year

Formation of "Jepyeongwi 2.0" Committee Expected Only After the First Half of the Year

The formation of Naver's "News Partnership Evaluation Committee (Jepyeongwi) 2.0" is expected to be delayed beyond the first half of the year. The committee is responsible for reviewing the entry, sanctions, and removal of media outlets from the news platform.

According to industry sources on May 6, discussions on the formation of the Jepyeongwi by the "News Innovation Forum," an advisory body for Naver's news service, have effectively stalled with no significant progress.

The headquarters of Naver located in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Photo by Yonhap News

Although internal guidelines were established early on, discussions have been postponed due to various political events, starting with the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeol. There is growing speculation that substantive behind-the-scenes negotiations with political circles will only begin after the presidential election scheduled for June 3.

Since 2015, Naver and Kakao have operated independent Jepyeongwi committees to review media outlets seeking news partnerships with their portals. However, the committees have faced ongoing controversies over fairness and accusations of ideological bias among committee members, leading to a suspension of activities in May 2023.

As discussions have progressed slowly, Kakao began allowing new media outlets to join its platform based on a 100% quantitative evaluation standard at the end of last year. Meanwhile, Naver is working on forming its own Jepyeongwi, but progress has stalled due to the lack of agreement with political stakeholders.

Within the News Innovation Forum, there are reportedly plans to establish a pool of up to 1,000 media experts and select several dozen review committee members by random draw to conduct evaluations for media entry and removal.

This approach is similar to the operation of confidential expert pools by government ministries, affiliated agencies, or public organizations?such as the Prosecutorial Investigation Review Committee?to ensure objective deliberation.

In the previous Jepyeongwi, some of the 30 committee members from 15 organizations were selected as reviewers. However, the personal information of all committee members was exposed to the public, raising concerns about lobbying, as well as issues regarding fairness and objectivity.

A Naver representative stated, "We are reviewing various measures to address issues of expertise and fairness as much as possible. Realistically, we expect that the formation of the Jepyeongwi will only be possible in the second half of the year, after the presidential election," adding, "We are working to ensure that the committee can be launched and operational within the year."