Hong Jun-pyo at War with Local Media: "Abuse of Power Under the Guise of Press Freedom"

Hong Joon-pyo, the mayor of Daegu, has launched a war against a local media outlet. In response to the local media broadcasting news criticizing the TK (Daegu-Gyeongbuk) New Airport, he expressed his intention to 'refuse coverage' and indicated that he would continue to refuse coverage despite criticism from opposition parties.

On the 2nd, through his social media (SNS), Mayor Hong stated, "Continuously nitpicking with malice and broadcasting distorted and biased reports is not proper journalism but media bullying disguised as freedom of the press."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Mayor Hong announced his refusal to cooperate with coverage after Daegu MBC aired a program that disparaged and misled about the TK New Airport the day before. He explained, "If there is freedom of coverage, there must also be the freedom to refuse coverage in response to biased and distorted broadcasts."

Criticism from opposition parties quickly followed. The Democratic Party Daegu branch said, "The attempt to gag the media by refusing coverage is a serious issue as it resembles the revival of new reporting guidelines from the Chun Doo-hwan era 80 years ago, which involved media consolidation." The Justice Party Daegu branch pointed out, "If there is distortion and disparagement in the broadcast content, it should be addressed through discussion and debate. But responding with 'If there is freedom of coverage, there is also freedom to refuse coverage' is shocking."

However, Mayor Hong did not waver in his stance, stating that effective countermeasures against so-called 'media bullying' include refusing coverage. He said, "While there is the option of correction requests through the Press Arbitration Commission as a countermeasure against media bullying, I do not engage in such formal responses. The most effective response is to refuse coverage." He raised his voice, "There is freedom of coverage, but when it is not proper journalism and is at the level of tabloid media, not only should coverage be refused, but also no facilitation of coverage should be provided."

He added, "When I served as governor of Gyeongnam, I witnessed tabloid-level media bullying by a certain broadcasting company and refused coverage for a year by removing their booth. During my time as party leader, I demanded correction of false reports by a certain general programming channel, but when they refused, I removed their booth installed at the party headquarters and banned their access to the party headquarters." He concluded, "I respect and actively communicate only with proper journalism."

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