[The Editors' Verdict] "Latest News" Eating Away at the Vitality of the Press

The recent announcement by the Korea Communications Commission that it is considering launching the 'Algorithm Transparency Committee' of portal sites like Naver as a legal entity is worth pondering. The move to legislate the 'Algorithm Transparency Committee,' which verifies the criteria for arranging and exposing portal news articles, fundamentally means making those principles public, and it is expected to have a significant impact on media companies. Increased transparency of the algorithms that determine article arrangement could become a new turning point for the online media culture, which has been characterized by 'copying.'

Portal article arrangement algorithms remain undisclosed as they are considered trade secrets of private companies. However, precisely because they are secret, they have been subject to many suspicions. Previously, Naver introduced the AI algorithm-based system 'Airs' in 2017 and declared it would not intervene in news editing, but recently the ruling party has claimed that portals artificially intervene in news algorithm systems. The Korea Communications Commission began an investigation into Naver earlier this month. Observing the ruling party's pressure and the government's response, some form of change seems inevitable.

If the Algorithm Committee is legislated, the most noticeable change for readers on portal news is likely to appear first in the quality of articles. There is a higher probability that various types of news, such as in-depth analysis and special reports, will be more exposed than just the latest news.

This reflects the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's view that the quality of news has clearly declined as portals dominate news distribution. Yoon Doo-hyun, a member of the ruling People Power Party and chair of the Special Committee on Media Policy Coordination, recently stated at a meeting hosted by the Online Newspaper Association, "Naver's dominance of the news distribution network is having a profound impact on the media environment," adding, "Since profits are distributed based on search volume, quality news is decreasing while sensational articles are increasing."

Among the algorithm principles proposed by portals, the government and ruling party are particularly concerned about the 'news recency' factor. While news thrives on recency, they see it as a hindrance to media development. Naver publicly discloses 16 algorithm factors for news sites, including 'article recency popularity,' 'article cluster recency,' and 'article recency.' Recently written articles or clusters are assigned higher values, which become factors in determining article exposure rankings.

The concern about this factor stems from the interpretation that the intention is more about increasing user inflow at any cost rather than focusing on article content. Regarding 'article recency popularity,' Naver explains, "When the number of article clicks increases, it is assumed that the article's user popularity rises, and a higher value is assigned," adding, "From the user's perspective, the number of clicks on articles that are currently 'popular and gaining popularity' is measured and scored."

For example, if one media outlet writes an article first and other outlets copy or write similar content afterward, this algorithm would assign a higher score to the follow-up articles rather than the exclusive original. This largely explains why the practice of media outlets following sensational articles written by others has become entrenched.

The ruling party strongly expresses its intention to correct the news distribution policy centered on clicks. They aim to ensure that quality articles are valued. If portals change according to these standards, the media will inevitably need to break away from the practice of 'following sensational articles' and urgently transform. Even if clicks do not come immediately, an intense competition among media companies to increase so-called 'good articles' rich in planning and in-depth analysis is fast approaching.

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