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At 3 a.m. on Tuesday, the Internet edition of the Chosun Ilbo reported an official announcement by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control that the young American woman who was suspected of having died from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (the human form of mad cow disease), as reported by MBC news program "PD Diary", had in fact died due to a different illness.
Internet portal Daum had led the candlelight vigils in cyberspace since the mad cow fears began spreading by posting on its main news corner articles about the dangers of U.S. beef and writings by bloggers and setting this issue as the main theme on its Agora web board for days on end. But for eight hours, Daum did not even bother to select the Chosun Ilbo article, which could mark a turning point in the mad cow disease controversy. It wasn't until 11:30 a.m. that the portal began posting articles by other news media that followed the Chosun report. If the CDC had announced that the American woman had indeed died of vCJD, how would Daum have handled that news? It probably would have plastered its main page with articles reporting that as well as links to previous articles.
Internet portal Naver did not even carry the CDC article Tuesday morning, and simply inserted a "related article" link to another story posted on its news section in the afternoon about the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries deciding to file civil and criminal charges against "PD Diary." The only way to look at it is that both Internet portals were more concerned about offending cyber violence-prone netizens by deliberately avoiding articles that could serve as the first steps in resolving the mad cow controversy.
Unlike global portals like Google and Yahoo, which focus on offering search functions, Korean portals select and post articles by on- and off-line news media, as well as selected writings by bloggers and concentrate on discussion forums, eager to lead public opinion. If an individual with a specific motive becomes an anonymous blogger and posts ludicrous and unsubstantiated comments, such writings can end up triggering crowds into a frenzy if they are simply posted to a popular online area. Last Friday, when thousands of candlelight demonstrators marched to KBS in order to protect it, Daum posted on its main news page the personal account of one of the demonstrators. As its "blog news best" on May 5, Daum posted an essay by a former aid to a Uri Party lawmaker who had also worked for a left-wing media organization. The essay was entitled, "69 Days into the Lee Myung-bak Administration, Why a Million People are Signing a Petition to Impeach Him."
As operators of communications businesses, portals run many types of subsidiaries. Because increased page views lead to increased profits, these portals cater to radical netizens. Inside Daum's Agora web board or its Internet cafes, people post writings every day prodding others to launch organized campaigns to make intimidating and threatening phone calls to businesses that run advertisements in the Chosun, Dong-A and JoongAng daily newspapers and even reveal the phone numbers of their advertising staff. They are providing all of the means and methods needed to commit cyber violence. And when legal infractions are committed, these portals dump the blame on the people who created the content and simply duck responsibility after providing law enforcement officials the personal information of the content makers. All the portals need to do is make money. At this rate, portals will end up prompting officials to clamp down on them.
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