The Roh Moo-hyun Administration's Press Posture and Problems Therein by Chong Chin-sok

Freedom of Press in Korea on Which the IPI Issued a "Warning"

Taking up the Seoul government's press policies including restricted access to administrative agencies for reporting purposes, the International Press Institute on April 17 issued a report, noting that the press situation in South Korea warrants a warning or alert. The IPI submitted the report to the Admonitory Action Network, affiliated with the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, so that human rights organizations in the network's 40-plus member countries may refer to it.

An entity established in 1992 by 57 freedom of expression and human rights organizations in 45 countries like the Reporters Sans Frontiers, World Association of Newspapers and Human Rights Watch, the IFEX is tasked with jointly and globally copying with infringements on freedom of the press and expression in its member countries. In 2002 the IPI left South Korea on its watch list of countries cracking down on freedom of the press, indicating that the press situation had not improved since 2001.

In its "2002 Report on the Status of Freedom of the Press in Korea," the Korea Society of Retired Journalists contended that the Kim Dae-jung administration's tax investigation of press companies, seen from much circumstantial evidence, can hardly evade the criticism of having been conducted with a political intention of taming newspaper companies critical of it. The freedom of the press in Korea that had been enhanced since the June 29, 1987 democratization declaration through the Kim Young-sam administration and till the middle of the Kim Dae-jung administration was shrunken substantially, the report concluded.

The IPI general conference held in Seoul in May 1995 acknowledged South Korea as a country guaranteed with freedom of the press. Attended by more than 500 delegates from 45 member countries, among them the United States, Britain, Russia, Germany and Japan, the Seoul IPI general conference was of the biggest scale of its kind. It also drew attention in that the conference was held in the capital of the only divided country in the world. The Korean pressdom was overjoyed at the formal international recognition that Korea, removed from the "watch list," with the past image of a press-suppressing country cast off completely, was qualified to be a "watchman" over the suppression of the press. On the second day of the general conference, the IPI unanimously adopted a resolution urging the opening of and freedom of the press in North Korea, forcefully conveying the world pressdom's concerns about human rights abuses in the North.

Six years later, however, Korea has retreated into a country where freedom of the press is again threatened, with press policies enforced in the latter half of the Kim Dae-jung administration and since the inauguration of the Rok Moo-hyun administration giving rise to deep concerns in the world pressdom. Since his election in December last year President Roh has taken quite a few controversial press measures, some in person and others by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

New Administration's Backpedalling Press Measures

Referring to some newspaper companies in an interview with the Internet media "OhMynews," President Roh said: "Backed up by family ownership and vested rights, they pretend to be the standard-bearers of change; in fact, they hobble one change or reform and another. Imagine why the Transition Commission has had to publish its briefing newsletter. We'll publish a Blue House briefing bulletin too." The "Blue House Briefing," also called "another newspaper published in the Blue House," has thus come into being.

The Transition Commission has published a "false report white paper," entitled "You Have Gone Awry Too Much, " suggesting that press reports "have gone awry." Roh banned the administrative agencies from subscribing to dailies' first editions. The Blue House instructed ministries to report their plans of coping with press reports, classifying them into five categories: "affirmative," "simple," "healthily critical," "maliciously critical," and "false."

The instruction calling for classifying press reports is an action transcending a distrust of the press, for it amounts to coping with reports based on an arbitrary interpretation of them. The Government Information Service is reported to have organized a newspaper report task force, headed by its information director-general, on March 31, under which six officials administer false reports, requesting the submission of explanatory materials and the publication of erratums. The administration has set forth stringent steps against false reports, envisioning not only requests for remedial stories but also civil and criminal litigation.

The new administration's press policies also call for identifying sources in reports, public servants reporting their contacts with reporters and abolishing press rooms. The administration recently hinted at enforcing the press code; Culture and Tourism Minister Lee Chang-dong expressed an intent to subsidize a joint distribution of newspapers out of a public fund, giving rise to a criticism that the government intends to artificially intervene in the newspaper market. The Blue House, the Culture and Tourism Ministry and the Government Information Service are thus all actively involved in the new press policies.

Press-related Remarks Made by President Roh Moo-hyun

Since before his election, Roh has expressed his views of the press direct. In February 2001 when he was maritime and fisheries minister, he revealed his dissatisfaction of and hostility toward the press by remarking: "We should not hesitate to even stage a war against the press." He made the remarks when the Kim Dae-jung administration initiated the tax investigation of media companies.

One should not evaluate a persons's views of the press based on remarks he made before becoming a presidential candidate. If a politician has sustained damage from a press report, it's natural for him to assert press reform as a politician or citizen. Judging from the remarks he has continued to make as a presidential candidate and then the chief executive and a series of press policies issued by the new administration, however, his distrust of and hostility toward the press appear to be deeply embedded and solidified in his mind.

If a chief executive, not an ordinary politician, harbors a biased perception of the press, it cannot but be unsettling for our political development and democratization. Problems involved in Roh's view of the press, examined from his remarks, are discussed below.

1) Dangers Arising from Lack of Press Control

"The press, power concentrated as it is in structure, is neither verified nor monitored by the people," said Roh on March 29. "An uncontrolled and unverified power is very dangerous."

But the press is not a power; it wields certain influence based on support given by the readership. Beginning with "The Independence," the reformist Suh Jae-pil inaugurated 110 years ago, and continuing today, the press has helped formulate public opinion and exercised "influence" in reflecting it on politics; it has no "power" to conduct investigations and prosecute citizens, nor has it "power" to give economic sanctions through tax investigation. We clearly saw under the former administration that such powers can be exercised directly or indirectly by the president who is mandated with supreme command.

The president's remarks, "The press is neither verified nor monitored," also show that his view of the press is considerably biased. The press is subject to the readership's monitoring and verification. The history of the Korean press vividly tells that the more newspapers are colluded with the regimes, the more they have lost public trust and restricted in their influence. The fact that the newspaper circulation is subject to monitoring by the readership is evinced by the fact that the daily persecuted by the so-called "anti-movement" in recent months has not seen its circulation decline. Being often sanctioned by judicial bodies for libeling and false reporting, newspapers are always watched and restrained by sources of information and the readership. What newspapers should be dreadful of are accordingly their readers.

"The 2002 Report on the Status of Press Freedom in Korea," published by the Korea Society of Retired Journalists," also confirmed that pressure applied by television viewers and newspaper readers, that emerged along with the market, namely, social control, played a considerable role. That the people reporters hold in their minds most when writing stories are TV viewers and newspaper, and that reporters respond to their viewers or readers' follow-up comments and reactions as often as to their colleagues' mean that newspaper readers and TV viewers have emerged as a new force. It goes without saying that civic forces play reverse functions as well as the affirmative function of checking irresponsible press.

2) Envy of and Persecution by Some Newspaper Firms

"We must defend ourselves from the envy of and persecution by some newspaper firms, and share an era with the press that incessantly persecuted the Kim Dae-jung administration in the past five years," said Roh. Whether or not the chief executive himself perceives that he is being given a hard time or persecuted, however, he exercises enormous power and influence on the press. First, broadcasting media with tremendous power of organization is deployed around him as his friendly force. Broadcasting stations have long assumed the role of favorably publicizing the regimes the country has had. Unlike the past when dailies took the initiative, the influence of broadcasting overwhelms that of dailies today. Roh's desperate abortive attempt to have his man appointed as KBS president discloses how hard he has been trying to utilize broadcasting for his political end.

Second, the president has pro-government media supporting him. In addition to the KBS and MBC terrestrial broadcasting stations, the country's regimes have had the Seoul Shinmun, now rechristened as the Daily Koreas, that has faithfully played the role of a government organ. The Kyunghyang Shinmun voluntarily supported the inauguration of the Chun Doo-hwan administration. These historical instances in our press show that Roh's perception of specific conservative dailies lacks in equilibrium. when he said: "Colluded with the military dictatorships, they suppressed aspirations for democratization and civic rights on the one hand, and enjoyed privileges and special benefits on the other." Not only the broadcasting stations but also the newspaper firms classified as pro-government today enjoyed greater privileges and benefits under the military regimes. According to the changes of the times today, some media companies support the president with ideological trends different from the past. Coordinating with pro-government civic organizations, they exercise a social influence even stronger than that wielded under the military regimes. Thus viewed, Roh has a biased and negative image of the past history as well, in addition to distrusting the press and feeling persecuted by the press.

Third, the president exercises public power strong enough to deal a fatal blow to media firms. In the wake of former President Kim Dae-jung's reference to a press reform in his New Year's press conference on January 11, 2001, the National Tax Service conducted a major tax investigation of media companies. Extending the original investigation period of 60 days three times to 142 days, the service mobilized 1,000-plus staff members in the exercise. As a result, the service levied on 23 media firms 505.6 billion won (US$411.1 million) in penalties, the largest sum of its kind imposed on any industry in the country. A tax investigation of media companies is needed, of course. But that investigation in question gave rise to a criticism of applying "dual yardsticks" for the purpose of targeting specific newspaper companies. The Chosun Ilbo was levied 86.4 billion won ($70.2 million), the JoongAng Ilbo 85 billion won ($69.1 million) and the Dong-A Ilbo 82.7 billion won ($67.2 million). The penalties levied on the three major dailies totaling 254.1 billion won, were equivalent to about half the total penalties levied on the 23 dailies and broadcasting firms subjected to the tax investigation. The Fair Trade Commission also fined 15 media firms 24.2 billion won ($19.7 million) for default. On December 30 last year, however, the commission canceled 18.2 billion won ($14.8 million) fined on 15 media companies, an action acknowledging an improper levying of the fines. In the course of its tax investigation, the National Tax Service indiscriminately examined journalists' financial accounts, inviting a criticism of investigating at random. The National Tax Service head who was in high spirits during the tax investigation has subsequently fled abroad and his whereabouts are unknown; the Fair Trade Commission chief at the time has been detained on bribery charges. These instances indicate that the administrative agencies involved in the press reform had greater problems in morality.

3) Is Broadcasting Reform Excepted?

Press reform should not be confined to newspapers. It is more urgently needed and in more aspects in broadcasting stations that run with public asset of radio waves entrusted to them by the people. Terrestrial broadcasting is dominated by three stations: KBS, MBC, SBS. Broadcasting media is more difficult to verify than newspapers. Nevertheless, the public broadcasting station MBC is free from parliamentary inspection. Liberal press theory has it that the market share of newspapers in democratic politics is identical with balloting. Pattern of newspaper readership is the same as voting based on which success or failure in an election is determined and a regime is supported or not by the public. Because readers express their approval or disapproval of a particular newspaper by freely and selectively subscribing to it, dailies they don't want are inclined to disappear and those they support prosper. The readership verifies and monitors newspapers everyday. Accordingly, we can hardly concur with the president's perception that newspapers have not been verified, tested and monitored by the people. Terrestrial broadcasting, on the other hand, having a very limited number of channels and being dominated by a few stations, requires more stringent public regulation and monitoring.

President Roh nonetheless has never mentioned the need of reforming broadcasting; he rather hasn't hesitated making favorable remarks about the broadcasting media. He expressed his appreciation of the support broadcasting had extended to him by saying that but for broadcasting he would have hardly been elected. His desperate efforts to push through his appointment of Suh Dong-koo, his press special assistant during the presidential campaign, as KBS president by going as far as inviting union representatives to his office in an attempt to persuade them, tell his great interest in, expectations on and affection to broadcasting.

4) Oligopoly in Press Market

Does oligopoly dominate the press market? Korea has the Audit Bureau of Circulation, a public agency verifying the circulation of dailies. But even those newspaper firms that advocate a press reform have not made public their circulation. To determine whether the newspaper market is dominated by a few firms, Korea should first administer the ABC system properly and find out the accurate circulation of dailies. But it has to be taken into account that an artificial standardization of the market share of newspaper companies, that should be left to competition, may bring about other problems. We also should pay attention to the fact that as far as oligopoly in the press market is concerned, more problems lie in the broadcasting sector than in the newspaper sector.

Confrontational Posture and Dichotonomous View of the Press

Roh approaches issues in a way entirely different from his predecessors'. He confronts them at the front. To begin with, he simplifies the press into two groups; one that he likes and the other he hates. He defines the latter as "conservative and far-right" or "family-owned" newspapers which are hostile to him. What he calls "conservative and far-right" papers refer to the three major dailies of Chosun, JoongAng and Dong-a Ilbo. According to the president, they give him a hard time, are envious of him, and persecute him. When he classifies dailies in a roundabout way, he refers to them as "a small number of special papers" and "ordinary papers." "The small number of special papers" should be reformed, he maintains.

On February 9, 2003 Roh held an exclusive interview with the Internet paper "OhMynews," assessed to have positively contributed to his election. In the interview too, he expressed his hostility toward the "conservative papers,' remarking that they give him a hard time, that a war must be waged against the violence wrought by organized gang-like newspapers, and that he would no longer succumb to the press. The rhetoric the president employed is exceptionally straightforward and even militant.

The remarks and gestures the president make to the press, directly reflected in the administration's press policies, may shrink the press or make the press free. The recent series of media policies like the introduction of a briefing system, restricted reporters' access to administrative offices, the examination of intent behind stories, and battle against false reports directly reflect the president's view of the press. Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun share a common feature in that the press played some role in their election. In the course of winning the presidency through competition, negotiations and campaigns, no candidates would have been able to enjoy friendly acceptance by all the media. Under such environments, both Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun had the capacity of utilizing the press more efficiently than their opponents. Some media firms were friendly to them and contributed to their election.

The two presidents also share the perception that success or failure in politics depends on the press. Accordingly, they seem to think that they have no way but to rigorously cope with media firms they judge to be not friendly to them in such a way as to mount a political struggle. Because some newspaper companies are so powerful as to "persecute" the chief executive, they apparently think, they have to defend themselves against them. In his first policy address delivered at the National Assembly, Roh said: "I suspect if any president can succeed under such circumstances of the press," an instance exposing his view of the press that the press plays a key role in determining the success or failure of an administration.

As reviewed above, however, friendly media is bound to emerge around the chief executive. To lead both critical and friendly media is a function given the president. Instead of defining media firms as friends and foes in a dichotonomous way, it is necessary for the president to formulate a balanced view of the press based on the functions of free competition and survival of the fittest in the capitalist press market. A balanced perception of relations among newspapers, broadcasting and Internet media and their roles is also needed.

Roh's assertions that the press has developed itself into a power, and that the press needs monitoring and criticism are certainly affirmative in some aspects. It should not be overlooked, however, that media firms are not the object of a reform after they are dichotonomously classified into friends and foes, and that the president should embrace and persuade critical media companies as well as friendly ones.

The typical 20th century journalist of the United States, James Reston, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize twice in recognition of the numerous international scoops and renowned commentaries he wrote while serving at the New York Times. In an introduction to his book "The Artillery of the Press," he presented guidelines on relationships between the president and the press and national interests, after quoting this dictum of Thomas Jefferson: "If I'm asked to choose either a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I won't hesitate to choose the latter."

It was in 1787 before he was elected president that Jefferson quipped that dictum which is often quoted when relations between a government and the press are discussed. His view of the press, however, underwent a complete change after he assumed the presidency. In his second presidential inaugural speech, Jefferson said: "The artillery called the press has, on its own discretion, lorded and targeted shells at us. That the press which ought to play the role of an important agency for the development of liberty and science is thus abused is profoundly regrettable, reduces the usefulness of newspapers and endangers the safety of newspapers." Even Jefferson known as a strong guardian of freedom of the press did not attempt to conceal his hostility to and dissatisfaction with the press.

Reston retorted: "The U.S. president should not ask for newspapers that are more obedient than they are today; the president needs newspapers that are thunderous like a gun and fire shells characterized by accurate facts and cold-headed criticism." Engines moving the world today, he said, are no longer the government, but the vitality of the masses, the creativity of science, the techniques of engineers and economists and new discoveries by medical doctors. Accordingly, reporters are tasked not with playing a cheer-leader role unilaterally siding with America in the global competition, but with helping as many American masses as possible recognize changing world realities along with U.S. policies, he advised. Reston died in December 1995. The reputable columnist's advices are just applicable to our president and press today.