By Kim Ji-soo
Culture Editor
Watching prime time nine o'clock news during the 1980s was like a recurring nightmare. Especially in the earlier part of 1980s, the news was always about a pending attack or threat from North Korea, with menacing music and visuals in the background. Not only was I sick of it, but it was frightening too, as those were days when civil drills were held every month for evacuations during a possible North Korean attack. There was a time when one of those civil drills was not a drill, but a ``real situation.'' That turned out to be a North Korean fighter jet defecting.
That memory has to do with my hyper-vigilance toward a possible second Korean War at that time. But something that overshadowed my fear of possible war was the news at that time, which I later learned in college was referred to as ``ttaengjeon" news. The ``ttaeng'' refers to the sound of an on-screen alarm to denote it was nine o'clock. The ``jeon'' refers to former President Chun Doo-hwan. The reference was that when the alarm sounded on the television, the broadcast anchors would start with news about then President Chun, illustrating how the former-military ruler used the media to his advantage.
In 2008, there is no more ``ttaengjeon'' news. But a series of appointments made by President Lee Myung-bak regarding state-run media outlets or those where the government can exercise influence is raising more than a few eyebrows. It began with the appointment of Choi See-joong as chairman of the Korea Communications Commission. The commission is an independent body created by the Lee government to map out policies for the broadcasting sector. Choi, who worked in Lee's campaign, is known to be a close friend of the President's older brother, Rep. Lee Sang-deuk of the governing Grand National Party. Questioned about his expertise ever since the appointment, Choi has been asked about his qualifications to oversee the commission, which has a broad mandate over the nation's broadcast sector including Internet television. Lately, he has been criticized for attending a series of government-governing party talks in May and this month. The next questionable appointment of the President was the naming of Koo Bon-hong, his former presidential campaign media adviser, as president of YTN, a 24-hour news channel. Lee then named Chung Kuk-rok, as president of Arirang TV, an English broadcaster; and Yang Whui-bu, to head of KOBACO, which oversees advertisements on broadcasters. Both Chung and Yang were President's campaign advisers. Koo, Chung and Yang are veteran broadcast people. But they all either went to same school, where the alumni network is highly valued, and are considered part of the president's inmost inner circle.
President Jung Yun-joo of the state-run Korean Broadcasting System, whose tenure runs through November 2009 is being pressed to resign, for poor management. Jung has dismissed calls on him to resign, but many believe should he step down, the President will appoint someone from his inner circle.
A president is a politician too. As a politician, he is free to appoint his men or be obliged to appoint those who helped him win the presidency. But the appointments come at a time when his popularity is about to hit rock bottom; there are also questions of expertise in the case of some. And there seems to be lacking an engaged explanation or answer on the Lee's administration part about why these appointments are justified. The message from the streets was that people want to be heard, not simply herded. It's time to hear from the administration. Public opinion at the moment seems split as wide as the sea split by Moses, but as one friend commented, ``That's the beauty of democracy.'' The government needs to come forth with engaged dialogue about its press policies as well as about its blueprint for new type of media that technology of our era is allowing.