The Democratic Party's Full-Scale War on 'Fake News'... "Restricting Portal Transmission of Copied Articles"

"Restrictions Needed for Portals with Less Than 50% Coverage"
Ruling Party Expresses Opinions Twice Daily on Fake News Issues

To address issues such as the rapid spread of fake news on portal news sites, there have been calls for measures to ban the transmission of 'copied articles' to portals.

On the 19th, the People Power Party Policy Committee, the office of Representative Yoon Doo-hyun, and the party's portal task force (TF) held a 'POST News Partnership Evaluation Committee Expert Forum' at the National Assembly Members' Office Building to discuss such measures. In his opening remarks, Representative Yoon said, "It is time to prepare the POST Evaluation Committee to revive media dependent on portals and ensure that valuable news receives corresponding attention and economic rewards."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Kang Joo-an, editorial writer at JoongAng Ilbo and a former evaluation committee member, who presented at the forum, pointed out the limitations of the evaluation committee and suggested improvements. The evaluation committee is an organization voluntarily operated by Naver and Kakao since 2016 for news partnership review and management, but its operation was temporarily suspended in May.

Kang identified the core problem of portal news as 'copying.' He stated, "Copied articles receive higher traffic on portals than carefully researched articles. However, the evaluation committee has neglected sanctions against copied articles. While portals gain traffic from copied articles, the capabilities of the media regress," he criticized.

He then proposed that the core of portal news reform should be to expel such plagiarized articles. For example, he suggested establishing standards for allowing quoted reports from other media outlets, such as banning portal transmission if additional reporting content is less than 50%.

Ruling Party Intensifies Fake News and Portal Regulations Amid 'Presidential Election Manipulation Gate'

The government and ruling party have defined the fabricated interview allegations involving Kim Man-bae and Shin Hak-rim just before last year's presidential election as the 'Presidential Election Manipulation Gate' and are focusing their efforts on regulating fake news.

At the forum's congratulatory speech, Park Dae-chul, chairman of the Policy Committee, stated, "In light of the shocking attempt to undermine national order through fabricated interviews being uncovered, it is an inevitable time for a sweeping reform of the news policies of powerful portals as well as strict punishment for maliciously fabricated media outlets to prevent recurrence of similar incidents," expressing his intention to reform the system.

Members of the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee from the People Power Party also held an 'Emergency Public Hearing on Legislative Petitions to Eradicate Fake News' at the National Assembly Members' Office Building that morning, strongly emphasizing the need for solutions.

In his greeting, Representative Kim Ki-hyun said, "There are fake news cases caused by negligence, gross negligence, negligent intent, and deliberate intent. The responses must vary greatly at each stage. This is because there is ongoing debate that confuses the issue by treating very deliberate and intentional fake news as if it were caused by negligence."

The ruling party has criticized the so-called 'Presidential Election Manipulation Gate' allegations as deliberately planned 'fabricated news,' not fake news caused by negligence. They have also filed complaints against reporters and hosts who cited such reports.

Lee Dong-gwan, chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, also pointed out 'quoted reports' in his opening remarks at the public hearing. He mentioned, "The media are contributing to worsening the situation by citing fake news without verifying facts."

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