Lee Hye-hoon: "Is TBS a 'Pain Broadcast'... Properly Provoking the Public's Frustration"

Lee Hye-hoon, People's Power candidate for Seoul mayoral primary. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Former Future United Party (predecessor of the People Power Party) lawmaker Lee Hye-hoon, who declared his candidacy for the Seoul mayoral by-election, criticized on the 7th, "Is TBS a traffic broadcast or a suffering broadcast?"

On the same day, Lee opened his statement on his Facebook post by saying, "Although the political neutrality of TBS, operated with taxpayers' money by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, is an absolute value that must not be compromised, it has continuously caused controversy due to politically biased actions, and a few days ago, TBS itself accepted criticism and even suspended the controversial broadcast."

He pointed out, "At this moment when TBS is at the peak of political bias controversy, a three-month acting authority appointed a politically biased 'endgame' figure as the chairman of TBS for a three-year term," adding, "Even an apology would be insufficient, but their audacity knows no bounds." He also claimed that TBS did not report related news during the heavy snowfall situation.

In response to Lee's claims, TBS rebutted that contrary to his statement, they urgently scheduled a special heavy snow broadcast from 8 PM on the 6th to 3 AM on the 7th, and again from 5 to 7 AM on the 7th. They emphasized that during the 7 to 9 AM slot of 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory,' traffic updates were continuously delivered throughout the broadcast.

Furthermore, they explained, "During the 8 to 9 PM broadcast of 'Not in the Middle of the Night with Joo Jin-woo' and the 9 to 10 PM 'Lee Ga-hee's Love Letter,' instead of the originally prepared music and talk, real-time weather information, traffic updates, and listener traffic report texts were introduced, along with phone interviews with citizens trapped on the roads." They added, "From 10 PM to 3 AM, regular programs were canceled to air a special heavy snow preparedness broadcast, which received great response from citizens."

TBS also expressed "deep regret toward former lawmaker Lee, who criticized TBS based on the existing schedule posted on the homepage without listening to TBS FM or verifying the facts during the emergency situation where more snowfall than initially forecasted occurred."

Meanwhile, on the previous day, Seo Jeong-hyeop, acting mayor of Seoul, appointed Professor Yoo Sun-young of Sungkonghoe University as the chairman of the TBS Foundation, a position vacant since June last year. Acting Mayor Seo has been serving since July last year following the tragic incident involving the late Mayor Park Won-soon, and must vacate the position once the new mayor assumes office after the Seoul mayoral by-election on April 7.

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