PD notebook fails to impress viewers

By Lee Hyo-sik

MBC TV’s investigative journal “PD Notebook” aired its controversial program, “The secret behind the six-meter depth of the four rivers,” which was critical of the government’s ongoing four-river refurbishment project, Tuesday night, a week after it was initially scheduled to be shown.

Despite the media hype surrounding the program, most viewers expressed disappointment after watching it as controversial and sensitive content concerning the project were largely edited out by management.

Over the past week, PD Notebook producers, MBC unionists and progressive civic groups were protesting MBC President Kim Jae-chul’s order to suspend the airing of the program just hours before the planned broadcast on Aug. 15. They claimed that management got cold feet because it did not want to worsen its already poor relations with the Lee Myung-bak administration after previously airing material critical of the government.

On Aug. 15, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs filed an injunction with the court to ban the airing of the investigative program, arguing the program spread false information about one of President Lee’s major development schemes. But the court rejected the application. On Tuesday, MBC decided to air the edited version of the program, which claimed that areas surrounding the nation’s four major rivers — the Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan — will continue to suffer from floods even after the four-river refurbishment scheme is completed.

“The task force was set up only four months after President Lee publically gave up building a nationwide waterway. Two officials dispatched from Cheong Wa Dae took part in the task force along with civil servants specializing in water management from the ministry. One of the Cheong Wa Dae officials graduated from the same high school as President Lee,” PD Notebook said.

It said the task force decided not to immediately push ahead with making the depths of the four rivers deeper than six meters because it was politically risky to proceed with the initial plan, which was similar to the abandoned canal project.

However, the investigative journal decided not to call the task force a “secret team” as initially planned. It also decided not to raise allegations that the two Cheong Wa Dae officials involved in the taskforce were members of the so-called Yeongpo group, which has close ties to President Lee. All of its members were raised in Yeongil and Pohang, two southeastern port cities. President Lee himself was born and raised in Pohang.

Despite its much-heralded publicity, the majority of viewers expressed disappointment, saying the latest episode of PD Notebook did not reveal anything new about the four-river development scheme.

On a PD Notebook’s online bulletin board, one viewer wrote that the program largely failed to provide a basis for its allegations. “I already knew all the contents PD Notebook covered Tuesday night. The program was basically nothing more than the compiling of all previous materials. It did not do a good job of accusing Cheong Wa Dae of turning the four-river refurbishment project into the construction of a canal.”