'Interview Voice Manipulation' KNN Receives Court Sanction 'Warning'

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] The Broadcasting and Communications Review Committee's Broadcasting Review Subcommittee has decided to impose a legal sanction of 'warning' on three cases of manipulated interviews reported by KNN.

The Broadcasting Review Subcommittee announced on the 9th that it held a meeting at the Broadcasting Hall in Mokdong, Seoul, and passed this resolution.

The problematic reports in question were broadcasts on KNN's 'KNN News Eye' pointing out issues in the Busan Port hinterland complex and urging caution regarding antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It was revealed that the reporter altered their own voice and broadcast it as if it were an interview with an anonymous source or related personnel, resulting in a legal sanction (warning).

The resolved matters were uncovered through voice analysis and other investigations following additional manipulation suspicions raised after the Broadcasting Review Committee imposed two fines on July 22, 2019, for voice-altered false interviews in the relevant broadcast program.

The Broadcasting Review Subcommittee stated, "The reporter's alteration of their own voice to produce false reports is a violation of journalistic ethics and a disregard for viewers' trust, making a severe sanction unavoidable. However, considering efforts made to establish recurrence prevention measures and improve the reporting system since the imposition of fines last year, this was taken into account."

The subcommittee decided to issue administrative guidance in the form of a 'recommendation' for SBS's 'Special News Briefing,' which used expressions that incite racial discrimination, prejudice, and conflict regarding the appearance or family members' ethnicity of a Korean-American U.S. federal House representative-elect, and for YTN's 'News Special Report - COVID-19,' which reported definitively on whether Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae directly contacted the Ministry of National Defense's complaint office regarding her son's leave extension without specific sources or evidence while covering the disclosure of a Ministry of National Defense document alleging that Minister Choo and her spouse filed a direct complaint to the military.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.