Seoul National University Professor Yoon Seok-min: "Media Arbitration Act, a Fundamentally Flawed Unconstitutional Law"

Yoon Seok-min "Pushing forward despite knowing it's unreasonable is for political reasons ahead of the presidential election"
"Reporting on political power is difficult and freedom of the press will die"
Park Wan-joo "Not intended to pressure media exercising the right to know"

KBS Labor Union Chairman Heo Seong-gwon is holding a relay protest against the punitive damages system, a contentious clause in the amendment to the Act on the Mediation and Relief of Damage in the Press, in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 2nd. / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] Professor Yoon Seok-min of the Department of Communication and Information at Seoul National University stated that the Media Arbitration Act being promoted by the Democratic Party of Korea is "a clearly unconstitutional law that is fundamentally wrong from start to finish."

Earlier, on the 27th of last month, the Democratic Party, despite opposition from the opposition parties, put the amendment to the Media Arbitration Act to a vote and passed it at the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee's Subcommittee on Culture and Arts Legislation.

On the 3rd, Professor Yoon appeared on the Chosun Ilbo daily podcast "Morning Live with Kang In-seon and Bae Seong-gyu" and said, "Compensation should only be made for damages caused by false reporting, but calculating compensation by setting a minimum damage amount based on the media company's sales revenue regardless of that is logically completely unreasonable," adding, "It is an unconstitutional bill that infringes on the economic freedom of media companies."

He continued, "The ruling party is pushing this through despite knowing it is unreasonable, solely for political reasons ahead of next year's presidential election," and said, "If media companies are required to prove that all such reports are without problems, and if punitive damages are imposed, it will be difficult to conduct investigative reporting on political power, and freedom of the press will be destroyed."

He also added, "Media reports are hard to be perfect and sometimes may contain some errors due to enthusiasm," and "Especially, investigative reporting on corruption such as power-related corruption is quite difficult to conduct in a normal way, and there are many parts in the reporting process that can be disputed."

The amendment to the Media Arbitration Act (Act on Media Arbitration and Damage Relief, etc.) imposes punitive damages up to five times for clearly false or fabricated reports, allowing punitive damages to be imposed on media companies that report so-called 'fake news.' The Media Arbitration Act sets the minimum damage amount at one ten-thousandth of sales revenue and the maximum at one thousandth of sales revenue.

Park Wan-joo, the Policy Committee Chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea, is entering the floor strategy meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 3rd. / Photo by Yonhap News

Meanwhile, Park Wan-joo, the Policy Committee Chair of the Democratic Party of Korea, said at a press conference held at the National Assembly on the 3rd, "Whether the ruling party will pass it alone or what the outcome will be, we believe that a fake news regulation law is absolutely necessary," adding, "Since a significant portion of the public supports this law according to opinion polls, we expect it to be passed."

Regarding concerns from the opposition and media-related organizations about excessive regulation, he said, "Punitive damages are imposed only on clear cases of falsehood, distortion, and fabrication," and pointed out, "It is not intended to pressure media companies exercising normal freedom of expression and the right to know."

He continued, "The social judgment on clear standards of distortion and fabrication is made in court," and "The focus is on victim relief. Within our party, there are also complaints about not setting a minimum penalty."

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