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State-run broadcaster KBS aired a special program on Sunday on Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who became the country's premier in May for the third time, alleging that the media mogul's control over state broadcaster RAI has threatened media objectivity and democracy. The program said that after top management at RAI were replaced, various news programs took a "sandwich" approach by broadcasting the government's opinions first, followed by criticism from opposition parties and finally the stance of the ruling party, leading to an imbalance in news where the government and ruling party's positions account for two-thirds of news content.
KBS should speak for itself. It has set a new standard when it comes to brazenness. In its coverage of the impeachment motion against former president Roh Moo-hyun in March 2004, the KBS program "Media Focus" aired seven consecutive interviews with people opposed to the impeachment and not a single one who supported the move. Looking at the entire lineup of KBS programs on the impeachment motion, there were 22 people who opposed it and just one who supported it.
And now a network which broadcast views of the ruling and opposition parties at a ratio of 7:0 is saying that Italian media objectivity is under threat if RAI has a ration of 2:1. The criticism has come straight back at KBS, which repeatedly aired over 10 hours of footage of the National Assembly passing the motion to impeach Roh. A former KBS executive recalled the atmosphere at the time as "fanatical," while the Korean Society for Journalism and Communication Studies said the broadcasts were unfair even by applying the "loosest of standards."
If KBS truly wants to repent for its past actions and sincerely transform itself, it should first air a program on how media freedom has been strangled in Venezuela under Hugo Chavez, which Jung Yun-joo, the ousted president of the state-run broadcaster, hailed as a "new alternative to American neoliberalism" and a "new hope." The Chavez government closed down newspapers that were critical of his policies, while banning broadcasters from criticizing the government. It classified more than half of the country's journalists as part of "anti-government" factions and blocked them from reporting, and shut down spaces in government buildings where journalists operate. Supporters of Chavez brazenly attacked journalists they did not like.
Like the Venezuelan government, the program "Media Focus," which Jung is said to have favored in particular, collected the government's subsidies and served as the mouthpiece of leftwing media groups, hushing the voices of media critical of the government and acting as the enforcer of the administration. Over several years, "Media Focus" aired programs mauling news organizations that were critical of the government, while failing to broadcast a single program taking a critical look at leftwing newspapers and broadcasters. The term "lapdog" of the government was coined for programs like this.
KBS officials who are still loyal to ex-president Jung should not waste taxpayer's money and travel all the way to Italy. Let them leave the network and follow Jung and set up shop somewhere else, using their own money to produce whatever they want.
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