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State prosecutors are intensifying their investigation into the people involved in the MBC program ¡°PD Diary¡± as details emerge pointing to exaggerated and distorted reporting in the two-part series on U.S. beef and mad cow disease. The producers as well as key officials at the broadcaster in charge of planning, external affairs, news, public relations and other key departments sat down with a lawyer in four separate meetings between June 27 and July 1 to look for ways to deal with the situation. A report of the discussions during those meetings has now been made public.
The first meeting on June 27, just two days after a translator working for ¡°PD Diary¡± said the producers had an ulterior motive in linking downer cows with mad cow disease and making it appear as if a young African-American woman¡¯s death was due to variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (vCJD), the human form of mad cow disease. The MBC officials agreed on a strategy of biding their time, holding off on any apology or acknowledgement of error.
In the second meeting held on June 29, the MBC officials agreed that any admission of mistakes in ¡°PD Diary¡± on mad cow disease would lead to public disappointment and a backlash at MBC. They also agreed that the launch of an internal probe into ¡°PD Diary¡± could lead to the perception that mistakes had been made. They said rather than show their cards first, they should wait until after seeing what moves prosecutors make. They reached an interim decision not to announce any problems in the program, including mistranslations.
In the third meeting on June 30, regarding a decision by the Korea Communications Standards Commission to deliberate whether to punish ¡°PD Diary,¡± the MBC officials said it would be preferable for groups such as the Korean Producers and Directors¡¯ Association or the National Union of Mediaworkers to lead protests against such punitive measures. They agreed that the size of the crowd protesting punitive measures could affect any decision by the KCSC. They also called for simulations preparing PD Diary staff for an investigation by prosecutors and discussed ways to deal with producers being summoned for questioning, as well as possible raids by investigators to confiscate computer files.
On April 29, ¡°PD Diary¡± aired upsetting footage aimed at a Korean audience completely unfamiliar with the subject of mad cow disease, showing downer cows being forced to stand using cattle prods and water cannons and being pushed around by forklifts. And ¡°PD Diary¡± showed the mother of Aretha Vinson, whose comments were deliberately mistranslated by the program¡¯s producers to make it appear the young woman died from vCJD, breaking down in tears as she stroked her daughter¡¯s clothes after her funeral.
As if that was not enough, ¡°PD Diary¡± showed footage of a patient suffering horribly from vCJD to deliver another blow to the hearts and minds of viewers. Over the shoulder of its anchor, ¡°PD Diary¡± carried the caption: ¡°Must we eat mad-cow-stricken beef and put our lives at risk?¡± Prodding its viewers through the explicit footage and distorted and exaggerated reports, ¡°PD Diary¡± beckoned young students and their parents to hold candlelight vigils. And those candles burned for two months. But it all turned out to be deliberate fabrications, distortions, exaggerations and lies.
The producers held meetings where no semblance of guilt could be found among its producers, while unionized workers at MBC passed out leaflets at candlelight protests urging participants to ¡°protect¡± the broadcaster. Prosecutors should not judge ¡°PD Diary.¡± The public, which was played like a fiddle, should be the judge.
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