Democratic Party Accelerates Media Reform... "Cannot Escape the Click Competition Trap"

Yun Hojung, Democratic Party Floor Leader, "Actively Support Reforms Centered on Media Special Committee"

Yoon Ho-jung, the floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the party strategy meeting held at the National Assembly on the 1st and delivering opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] The Democratic Party of Korea is accelerating media reform efforts. Punitive damages for 'fake news,' deletion of news from portal main screens (similar to Google's method), and a media voucher system are among the items under consideration.

On the 4th, Democratic Party floor leader Yoon Ho-jung pointed out at the Supreme Council meeting, "With internet news usage exceeding 80% and print newspapers falling to the 10% range, the media is caught in a structure where it is difficult to escape the trap of competing for clicks rather than competing for sound journalism."

He continued, "Fair management of portal news editing algorithms is also very important. Amid this, the ABC Association's inflation of paid subscription numbers feels even anachronistic," he criticized.

The Democratic Party's Special Committee on Media Innovation held its inauguration ceremony on the 31st of last month and has begun full-scale activities. Floor leader Yoon emphasized, "In an increasingly harsh media environment, the media is lagging behind changes, and the damage is directly borne by the public. We will actively support deriving and resolving reform legislative tasks that perfectly fit the changing media environment, centered on the Media Special Committee."

Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil also stated during the 'National Communication and Public Opinion Listening Project' report to the public on the 2nd, "Due to false fake news by the media, a person's social life can be destroyed, companies can go bankrupt, and certain industries and professions often suffer irreparable defamation damage," adding, "The Media Innovation Special Committee and the National Union of Media Workers held a meeting to discuss editorial independence and conditions for punitive damages."

At a meeting with the media union on the 31st of last month, the Democratic Party Media Special Committee presented tasks such as securing fairness in portal news placement algorithms, media damage compensation system (punitive damages system), regulation of false and manipulated information, the Media Voucher Act, and improvement of public broadcasting governance.

The day before, first-term lawmakers from the Democratic Party's 2030 generation held a meeting with reporters covering the National Assembly to gather opinions on media reform measures. The Democratic Party's policy is to make the media not the target of reform but the subject of it.

Punitive damages are one of the most representative tasks, but controversy seems inevitable. Kim Yong-min, chairman of the Democratic Party Media Special Committee, appeared on YTN Radio the day before and said regarding punitive damages, "There are bills for damages about 3 to 5 times, or sometimes based on sales revenue," adding, "(Fake news) is a common global problem, and some major advanced countries have already legislated on it. We plan to refer to foreign legislative cases to find the best methods, and one of them could be punitive damages as a method."

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