Presidential Office Adds Legal Warning to Briefing Videos
Lee Kyuyeon: "Arbitrary Editing and Distribution May Constitute Defamation"
Kyuyeon Lee, Chief of Public Relations and Communication at the Presidential Office, is giving a briefing related to the presidential senior secretary and aide meeting held on the 21st at the Presidential Office building in Yongsan, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News
The Presidential Office will include a warning about potential legal liability for defamation and similar issues as subtitles in its briefing videos.
On August 24, Kyuyeon Lee, Chief of Public Relations at the Presidential Office, held a briefing at the Yongsan Presidential Office and stated, "There have been some negative side effects, such as excessive distortion and mockery of the statements made by the spokesperson and the questions from reporters." He added, "After urging restraint about a month ago, the Presidential Office has now decided to add subtitles to KTV as a follow-up measure."
Lee announced that the subtitles will state, "Editing, distorting, and distributing the briefing video at one's own discretion may constitute defamation and could result in legal liability." He also requested that private broadcasters filming the briefing videos "participate in these follow-up measures."
Meanwhile, regarding the decision to make the briefings public, Lee said, "Anonymous sources have been replaced by named sources," and assessed that "the transparency and credibility of policy communication have improved." He further analyzed, "According to a survey of journalists conducted by the Journalists Association of Korea, positive assessments outnumber negative ones by 49.2 to 30.1."
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