By Cho Jae-hyon
People Team Editor
If a businessman plays a round of golf with a prosecutor, who will pick up the bill? It's the businessman. If a prosecutor goes out golfing with a journalist, who will pay? You know who.
It's an old joke indicating that the prosecution is powerful but above it is the press. Not much has changed.
The most powerful organization in the nation is neither the President nor the prosecution. It's the press. The pen is still mighty enough to make top prosecutors' heads roll.
Therefore, when the prosecution picks a fight with a media group, it needs to be extra careful. If it wants to tame any media company it thinks is unruly, it must first get its hands on surefire evidence, cohesive enough to prove its wrongdoings.
It should not underestimate its enemy. It apparently did so when it laid down the gauntlet to MBC to rebuke its producers of investigative TV journal "PD Notebook," the program notorious for its no-holds-barred reports.
The charges against them ― defamation and business obstruction ― do not hold water in the first place.
First, did the program damage the fame of former Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun and his subordinate Min Dong-seok, the crusaders who led the talks to resume American beef imports?
Why only those two? There are many other government officials who labored to get the deal done. What about their reputations? Did they think their reputations had nothing to do with the program that was critical of the administration for its rush to make the deal?
Even some prosecutors in charge of the case were well aware of the lack of grounds to file defamation charges, which eventually led to a crack within the organization.
Senior prosecutor Lim Soo-bin, chief of the team in charge of the case, rebelled against the pressure to indict the MBC producers. Resisting the call to indict them, he quit the post early last year, saying the case did not hold ground for defamation charges. In hindsight, it was a precursor to the loss of the battle for the prosecution. He was smart enough to back away from a fight that he saw was impossible to win.
What's more important is the public are not interested in the status of the reputation of government officials. It was way off the mark.
Second, did the program obstruct American beef importers' business?
The clue to the answer is hidden in the menu of cafeterias of government offices.
When the candlelit protest against the imports of American beef swept the nation, former Agriculture Minister Chung promised that he would feed civil servants with American beef for one year after the resumption of the imports.
However, for the one year to August 2009, government complexes in Seoul, Gwacheon and Daejeon procured only Australian beef, purchasing no American beef, according to government data submitted to the National Assembly.
Every restaurant is now obliged to post notices informing the origin of meat on their menu. Virtually no restaurant has a menu saying its dishes use American beef.
It is also shunned at all discount stores. Few housewives look for American beef. Its market share remains stalled.
Why is that? Should "PD Notebook" be blamed? Is it possible for a TV program to have such a lasting and powerful effect?
It's unknown whether the prosecutors consume American beef. From Cheong Wa Dae to prosecutor offices across the nation, they should serve more dishes made from American beef in a gesture to show that they love the meat and were legitimate in their argument against the television program.
On Jan. 20, a lower Seoul district court sided with the five "PD Notebook" staffers.
The point of the ruling is that the media's primary job is to satisfy the people's right to know and that some exaggerated or sensational parts in investigative reports should be tolerated. Such faults should be judged by the market not by the court.
The prosecution said it will appeal. The presidential house made no comments. But it must have been a big disappointment given senior presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan has said that if an incident similar to this case had taken place in a foreign country, its management would have made a public apology and resigned en masse.
But he seems to have double standards when it comes to the distortion of facts. He is generous when it comes from within.
Lee defended his subordinate spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye who recently modified the words of President Lee Myung-bak to downplay the possibility of an early inter-Korean summit. He said it's not grave enough for her to quit.
The prosecution has every right to appeal. But the odds to win the battle look very slim even under the currently conservative judiciary. It's an issue that should have been put behind a long time ago as it helps nobody.