|
The head of the Government Information Agency on Monday admitted that a scheme to merge press rooms into a handful of briefing centers and restrict press access to officials would have been impossible if the plan had been subjected to public scrutiny first. ¡°I believe it would have been impossible for the government to make the latest announcement if this plan had been disclosed and public opinions had been gathered,¡± Kim Chang-ho said. ¡°The announcement couldn¡¯t have been made in the normal way."
The chief of the embattled government PR agency made the remarks in the National Assembly Culture and Tourism Committee when asked by a lawmaker, "Before the announcement, the government mentioned it to the news media companies only in a general way, but did it gather sufficient opinions?" Another lawmaker asked, "When you were gathering opinions, did you explain that this measure envisions merging press rooms in government agencies and limiting access to government officials?" Kim answered, "No, we didn't do that."
Kim said the initiative came from the GIA last year, but he added, "It is true that President Roh Moo-hyun's instruction at a Cabinet meeting held early this year provided an important momentum. He instructed us to study how press rooms are operated in foreign countries. We had discussed details of this matter with the office of the senior presidential press secretary, so there are no large discrepancies between the GIA¡¯s (original) report to Cheong Wa Dae and its announcement to the public." Asked how many consultations there were with Cheong Wa Dae, he said, "We had frequent discussions. It's hard to tell how many discussions we had."
Meanwhile, a Grand National Party caucus Monday decided to submit in June a bill aimed at disbanding the GIA and another aimed at blocking the merger of press rooms at government agencies. The second would compel the government and public agencies to provide the press with space for news coverage and guarantee journalists free access to news sources. At the same time, the GNP reaffirmed its earlier decision to submit to the National Assembly four revision bills on media related laws, including the compromised Newspaper Law and Press Arbitration Law, parts of which were thrown out by the Constitutional Court last year. All are to be tabled in an extraordinary session in June.
"We will designate June as a month of press freedom and ensure by all means at our disposal that the GIA is disbanded,¡± GNP chairman Kang Jae-sup said. ¡°As long as there exist crooked government officials who call a spade a shovel and a ruler who deceives the people, the current administration will be seen as a regime that has obliterated democracy. The people will pass harsh judgment on those who try to deprive the free press of oxygen.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
|
