President Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday questioned whether sanctions exist for broadcasters that lose neutrality, after receiving a briefing on procedures including the approval of comprehensive programming channels.
"Are there sanctions when broadcasters lose neutrality and become very biased like party mouthpieces, or when they lack fairness?" Lee asked. He also indirectly targeted the political bias of certain comprehensive programming channels, saying, "What happens when broadcasters habitually engage in falsehoods, distortions, and fabrications, with so little objectivity that you cannot tell whether it is a particular party's broadcast or a personal-taste broadcast?"
Lee made the remarks during a Cabinet meeting and emergency economic review meeting held at the former presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, after listening to a report from the Broadcasting, Media and Communications Commission. "In the case of broadcasting, particularly terrestrial channels and similar channels, restrictions are placed to prevent other operators from entering, which can be considered a kind of patent or license. To the extent that they are protected in this way, responsibility must be imposed accordingly," he stressed.
After repeatedly referring to biased broadcasting and the distortion and fabrication of false information, Lee said, "Throughout that long period, I have not heard of any sanctions being imposed." He continued, "For example, there have been cases where some broadcasts, from the public's perspective, did not have the kind of neutrality, fairness, and objectivity that could be reasonably tolerated — cases where you would say, 'This is really going too far' — but I have never heard of any sanctions being imposed."
"I think broadcasting and communications administration should be carried out coolly, fairly, transparently, and objectively, in line with the public's expectations," Lee said. "From the public's perspective, people frown and ask, 'Does this make sense? Why is this being left unchecked for so long?'" He added, "Broadcasting and communications administration must be conducted clearly in accordance with the intent of the law and the expectations of the public."
