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President Roh Moo-hyun on Tuesday lashed out at the press, presidential contenders and political parties for opposing a scheme to merge press rooms into a handful of briefing centers and restrict press access to government officials. In the face of massive opposition to the plan, widely seen as an attempt to gag the press, Roh seemed determined to go further, threatening to close down the transmission rooms in government agencies where journalists write and file their stories.
"Reporting on the reform of the press rooms in government agencies, the press is taking the irresponsible attitude of avoiding or concealing truth, instead of reporting objectively on similar systems in foreign countries,¡± Roh said in a Cabinet meeting. "Many advanced countries maintain no transmission rooms in government agencies. I was going to provide journalists with news transmission rooms as well as combined press rooms for fear that they should be inconvenienced if everything changes altogether. But if the press keeps insisting on its privilege, the government is willing to do everything by the book."
If the embattled Government Information Agency closes down the transmission rooms, journalists would only have access to three combined press rooms shared by various government agencies. The briefing room for the government complex in Sejongno, Seoul, which covers nine agencies including the Office of the Prime Minister, will be in a separate building near the Foreign Ministry ? meaning not a single reporter will be stationed in the actual complex.
Roh also attacked parties and politicians for ¡°sympathizing or even chiming in with the wrong opinions of the press and calling for the disbandment of a government agency¡± -- the GIA. He said politicians mindful of votes ¡°have a weakness for the press. But journalists must be held responsible for what they say, because the press system is very important for the nation's development."
The president accused news outlets and politicians of ¡°pretending the reform plan for the press rooms in government agencies was a suppression of the press. If such one-sided news reporting continues, I'm willing to participate in a public debate." Presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon said Roh means to take part in a panel debate with journalists or news companies.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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