Hong Jun-pyo "There is Freedom to Refuse Coverage"... Bae Hyun-jin "Moon Era Was Media Control"

Baek Hyunjin "Take a commercial flight"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Hong Joon-pyo, the Standing Adviser of the People Power Party and Mayor of Daegu, defended the presidential office's refusal to allow MBC to board the presidential plane for an overseas trip, stating, "If there is freedom of press coverage, there is also freedom to refuse coverage."

On the 10th, Mayor Hong posted on his social network service (SNS), "Media companies argue that freedom of press coverage is being restricted, but those being covered must also understand that they have the freedom to refuse coverage as the only countermeasure against malicious and distorted reporting," he said.

Although Mayor Hong did not directly mention the presidential office's refusal to allow MBC to board on his SNS, he indirectly supported the presidential office by referring to his own experience of refusing coverage during his time as Governor of Gyeongnam Province.

He said, "During my time as Governor of Gyeongnam, I removed the booth of a certain Gyeongnam broadcasting station that aired biased and distorted broadcasts from the press room for over a year and refused coverage," adding, "In 2017, when I was party leader, I also removed the booth of a comprehensive programming channel that made false reports of sexual harassment and did not issue a correction, and banned their access to the party office, thereby refusing coverage."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

People Power Party lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin, a former MBC reporter, also stated on SNS that "In the fall of 2018, one hour before the departure of the South-North high-level talks delegation, the Moon Jae-in administration unilaterally notified that a Chosun Ilbo reporter of North Korean defector origin be excluded from the government pool of reporters," calling it "exclusion from coverage. This is a clear case of media control."

She added, "Other media companies boarding the presidential plane also pay certain fees. When there are not enough seats on the presidential plane, reporters sometimes draw lots among themselves to take commercial flights," and said, "MBC is only not boarding the presidential plane for this trip but the path for coverage remains open as before, so I hope they use commercial flights and have a successful presidential diplomatic trip for the national interest."

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