Chairman of the People Power Party Media Special Committee: "The Core of Portal Reform is Autonomous Normalization"

"Public Forum Disappears in Profit Distribution Based on Search Volume"

Yoon Doo-hyun, a member of the ruling People Power Party overseeing media policy, emphasized on the 26th that "the core of portal reform is 'voluntary normalization,'" adding, "To achieve this, social responsibility must be fulfilled."

On the same day, Yoon made these remarks while attending a roundtable discussion titled "Where Should Portal Policy Go?" hosted by the Korea Online Newspaper Association at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul.

Yoon Doo-hyun, a member of the People Power Party (right in the photo), is discussing the direction of portal policies with Park Hak-yong, president of the Korea Online Newspaper Association (left in the photo), and representatives of member companies of the association.

Currently serving as the chairman of the Media Policy Coordination Special Committee under the People Power Party's Policy Committee, Yoon stated, "Naver's dominance over the news distribution network is having a profound impact on the media environment," and added, "Because profit distribution is based on the number of searches, quality news is decreasing while sensational articles are increasing, causing the public discourse space to disappear."

He warned, "If left unchecked, portals like Naver could become breeding grounds for fake news," and said, "Although the ruling and opposition parties differ on specifics, they agree on the significant harm caused by fake news. Through mutual concessions during the legislative process, we can find a point where the gears mesh smoothly."

Yoon expressed opposition to legislation by stating, "It is wrong for portals to hide behind the News Alliance Evaluation Committee (Je-pyeong-wi) as a 'shield,' which goes against the original purpose of their establishment," and added, "However, since this is not an issue for the government and ruling party to intervene in, portals themselves should decide their partners and take appropriate responsibility."

Regarding the legislation of news outlinking by portals, he said, "While I agree with the intent, the side effects could be greater, so social consensus and complementary measures must be implemented simultaneously."

On the disclosure of portals' article arrangement policies, he stated, "For the media's social responsibility, rebuttals should also be attached to articles," emphasizing, "This should be based on healthy public opinion formation."

Park Hak-yong, president of the Korea Online Newspaper Association and moderator of the roundtable, said, "For the digital news ecosystem to develop in the right direction, the roles of news producers such as media companies, distributors like portals, as well as the government and National Assembly that create policies and laws, are all important," but added, "A reckless, sweeping policy could further confuse the market, so a sophisticated approach is necessary."

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