Prosecutors Raid Korea Communications Commission... Allegations of Manipulation in General Programming Channel Reauthorization Review

Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office, commencing operations on the 19th.

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The prosecution has conducted a search and seizure of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) regarding allegations of manipulation in the comprehensive programming channel (Jongpyeon) re-approval evaluation.

On the 23rd, the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office announced that it has been conducting a search and seizure of the KCC since the morning. On the 7th, the Board of Audit and Inspection discovered signs of manipulation related to the KCC's re-approval evaluation of comprehensive programming channels and forwarded the audit materials to the prosecution. The prosecution launched the search and seizure 16 days after receiving the materials.

Earlier this month, the Board of Audit and Inspection detected indications that some evaluators deliberately gave low scores to TV Chosun and Channel A during the first half of 2020 comprehensive programming channel re-approval evaluation process. At that time, TV Chosun scored a total of 653.39 points, exceeding the evaluation criteria, but received 104.15 points in the fairness category, resulting in conditional re-approval. The 104.15 points is less than half of the benchmark score for the fairness category.

Channel A met the total score and key evaluation criteria, but its re-approval could be revoked if significant issues affecting public responsibility and fairness arise after re-approval. At that time, Channel A was embroiled in allegations that a reporter had conducted threatening coverage by contacting a senior prosecution official.

The re-approval standard for comprehensive programming channels is 650 points out of 1000. If the score is below 650, the KCC may grant conditional re-approval or deny re-approval.

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