Lee Hit for Naming Cronies in Key Media Posts
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The government attempted to tame the press by appointing President Lee Myung-bak's cronies to key posts in the media industry, an opposition party lawmaker said Tuesday.
``Lee named some of his close aides, who contributed to his victory in the presidential election last year, to key posts in the media such as president of the cable network YTN," said Rep. Lee Yong-kyong of the minor opposition Renewal of Korea Party.
``Rumor has it that the government is now pressing the presidents of KBS and EBS whose tenure is not completed, to step down in an attempt to place Myung-bak's other cronies in key posts,'' Lee said at a forum organized by three opposition parties at the National Assembly.
In March, lawmakers of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP), such as Rep. Shim Jae-chol, and Culture and Tourism Minister Yu In-chon pressed KBS President Jung Youn-joo to step down.
They argued that Jung was appointed by former President Roh Moo-hyun and that he should resign because of the new conservative government which took office in late February after 10 years of rule by liberal administrations.
Jung refused to step down, making it clear that he would not leave KBS before his tenure ends in November of next year.
Following Jung's refusal, the prosecution announced plans to investigate him to see if he was involved in illicit activities, saying it could summon the KBS president if necessary.
Prosecutors said they could question Jung with regard to the legal case filed against him by a former KBS employee in 2005. The employee claimed Jung previously dropped a legal case even though the television network had a high chance of winning, and as a result, he damaged business income.
Opposition parties called the prosecutors' plan political retaliation aimed to topple Jung from the post.
Rep. Choi Moon-soon of the UDP, a former MBC president, accused the government of its plan to privatize KBS, arguing it revealed their intention to put the media under its control.
``The government's media policy is regressive in that the privatization plan was an idea which was put forth decades ago when an authoritarian government took power,'' he said.
The conservative newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported that the two television companies aired misleading programs justifying the anti-American beef rallies and that MBC offered inaccurate information to its viewers through its program, dubbed ``PD Notebook," about mad cow disease which was aired in April.
Prosecutors are now investigating whether the program intentionally produced misleading or exaggerated information regarding the disease.