Is KBS the Ruling Party's Ally? "Biased Reporting Is Not a New Issue"

People Power Party Members of the Science and ICT Committee
Criticize KBS Over 'Political Bias Controversy'
"Will the Public Accept the Increase in License Fees?"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] The issue of political bias at the public broadcaster KBS came under scrutiny at the full meeting of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee (STIBC) on the 18th. The opposition party sharply criticized KBS, saying that instead of raising the license fee, it should find answers to the current crisis as a public broadcaster on its own.

Park Sung-joong, the STIBC floor leader of the People Power Party, criticized, "KBS's biased reporting is not a recent issue," adding, "Advertising revenue has dropped by half, but the license fee has increased tenfold." People Power Party lawmaker Jung Hee-yong also asked, "It is said that at a recent KBS executive meeting, there was a remark that they should avoid 'bias controversy.' Doesn't this indicate that even internally they are aware of the problem?"

People Power Party lawmaker Park Dae-chul pointed out, "The manipulated news announcer, 'Song to the Moon' on Open Concert, the opening of the Pyongyang bureau, and the 100 million won annual salary are facts," and asked, "Would the public accept a license fee increase for such a KBS? The Korea Communications Commission should make a proper judgment from the public's perspective." People Power Party lawmaker Heo Eun-ah emphasized, "According to the union's survey results on the 7th, KBS announcers manipulated over 40 reports related to the Ulsan election, the Lime scandal, and the late Mayor Park Won-soon's related coverage," adding, "The public is pointing out issues of political bias and poor broadcasting quality."

Han Sang-hyuk, chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, responded, "Regarding the (political) bias issue, the results of internal investigations may be compiled and included in evaluations or assessments," but added, "It is difficult to point out problems with individual programs, as this would directly violate internal regulations prohibiting involvement in programming plans."

At the meeting, inquiries mainly focused on the license fee increase, political bias issues, and recent controversies related to the Lunar New Year special broadcasts, but KBS President Yang Seung-dong did not attend until the afternoon.

Park Sung-joong criticized, "The reality of KBS license fees and the deletion of dozens of articles unfavorable to the ruling party by announcers has been revealed, causing public concern," and said, "It is problematic that the STIBC cannot summon the KBS president due to opposition from the Democratic Party."

Earlier, the KBS Labor Union (1st Union) issued a statement on December 22 last year, claiming that a KBS announcer arbitrarily omitted content unfavorable to the ruling party from the radio news script during broadcasts.

The KBS union alleged that the announcer omitted parts of the news script related to the taxi driver assault incident involving Deputy Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu. They also pointed out that from October to December last year, announcer Kim arbitrarily and selectively deleted and did not broadcast news related to the Lime scandal prosecution investigation, North Korea's military demonstrations, and the sharp increase in new COVID-19 cases. On the 27th of last month, the Coalition of Experts Loving Public Broadcasting (Gongjeonyeon) filed a complaint against the announcer for violating the Broadcasting Act.

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