Government Closes Pressrooms
By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter
The Government Information Agency shut down pressrooms of 11 government ministries and agencies on Friday by locking their doors.
The agency put a notice on the doors indicating that all services that were available in the pressrooms, have been stopped and the pressrooms will be used for other purposes.
The agency urged journalists to move to a newly built pressroom at the Central Government Complex.
However, the majority of reporters refused to comply in protest against the government's unilateral media policy.
Journalists demanded the pressrooms be open, so they could take their laptops and other belongings, but this was refused.
The government offices whose pressrooms were closed include the Office of the Prime Minister, the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry, the Unification Ministry, the Education and Human Resources Ministry, and the Information and Communication Ministry in Seoul, and the Construction and Transportation Ministry in Gwacheon.
Reporters criticized the closure, saying it violates the people's right to know and freedom of the press by depriving them of access to civil servants. They said they will conduct a collective protest against the move.
President Roh Moo-hyun has sought to close most of the pressrooms of each government office as part of what he calls a policy of advanced support for the media. Instead, his administration has built new pressrooms for accommodating reporters regardless of their newsbeat.
Under the government plan, reporters will only be allowed in the central government pressrooms and will be required to have permission to meet civil servants when writing an article.
Cheon Ho-seon, the presidential spokesman, reconfirmed the government's position to move ahead with its media policy.
``The government has reformed the pressroom system and considerably adjusted it under the press' opposition,'' Cheon said. ``Now the last thing that we have to do is to remove the pressrooms from each government office.''
The main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) condemned the closure.
``The government pressrooms are offered by the people to watch the government, not by the government,'' Ahn Sang-soo, the party floor leader, said. ``The shutdown is against taxpayers' wishes.''
The GNP will try to pass a bill to reopen the pressrooms as soon as possible, he said.