Government Halts Use of ABC Association Policies...Switches from Circulation to Subscriber Survey Metrics

Use of Social Responsibility Data as Indicators in Print Media Government Advertising
Utilization of Portal Partnerships, Basic Status, Workforce Status, and Legal Compliance

The government will exclude the Korea ABC Association, which is suspected of inflating circulation figures, from policy utilization. It will also recover the remaining public funds of 4.5 billion KRW that had been provided.

On the 8th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced the results of its review of the Korea ABC Association's system improvement measures at the Seoul Government Complex annex. Minister Hwang Hee judged that it would be difficult for the ABC Association's circulation audit to regain credibility. The ministry decided to stop using it for policy purposes and to exclude ABC circulation standards from the criteria for media subsidies.

Until now, the circulation audit results of the ABC Association were used as an indicator in the government print media advertising system under the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Implementation of Advertisements by Government Agencies and Public Institutions. The amount involved reached 245.2 billion KRW as of last year. It was also used as a criterion for media subsidy support and regional newspaper development fund conditions, making securing the system's reliability and transparency indispensable.

However, in an administrative inspection conducted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism since November last year, the ABC Association's overall handling of the circulation audit process was found to be opaque. The selection of sample distribution points and the assignment of auditors, which greatly affect the audit results, were carried out solely by a specific manager without external observers or records.

The ministry recommended seventeen system improvement measures and warned that if they were not implemented by last month, policy utilization would be suspended. However, in the final report recently submitted, only two recommendations were implemented. Measures such as third-party observation of sample distribution points, formation of a joint investigation team to additionally verify paid circulation and sincerity rates, and equal participation of the Newspaper Association, Advertisers Association, and third parties in the board of directors were either not implemented or poorly executed.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to fill the gap by conducting subscriber surveys instead of circulation audits. It will carry out face-to-face surveys on reading rates and subscription rates targeting 50,000 citizens. Data related to the social responsibility of the media, such as the number of ex officio mediation cases by the Korea Press Arbitration Commission, participation in self-regulatory bodies, and results of reviews, will also be used as key indicators. Additionally, portal partnerships, basic status, workforce status, and compliance with laws will be utilized as reference indicators.

Minister Hwang said, "We expect that problems arising from using circulation as a reference indicator, such as new newspapers being exported overseas as waste paper, will be improved." He added, "We will strive to understand the influence of media based on multiple objective and reliable indicators and to ensure that government advertising for print media is executed more rationally and fairly."

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