Perpetrator is Female but Image is Male... MBC Apologizes for 'Illustration Distortion'

MBC, Subtitle Followed by Illustration Distortion
Illustration Deleted and Reposted

MBC, which previously apologized for distorting subtitles in an interview with elementary school students, has once again bowed its head amid criticism for distorting an illustration.

MBC News Desk sparked controversy by airing an illustration showing a man trying to hit a woman, despite the perpetrator being a female parent.
[Photo by MBC News Desk YouTube capture]

On the 23rd, MBC Newsdesk aired a news report titled "Parent who barged into classroom and strangled teacher during class... sentenced to one year in prison and detained in court." According to the report, in November 2021, at an elementary school in Incheon, a parent, after their son was reported as a school violence perpetrator, stormed into the classroom, verbally abused the teacher, and strangled the teacher’s neck when asked to leave the classroom. This parent was prosecuted for emotionally abusing elementary school students and was sentenced to one year in prison by the first trial court and detained in court.

The problem was that although the victim teacher referred to the offending parent as "this mother," the broadcast used an illustration depicting a man trying to hit a woman.

This led to criticism online that the facts were misrepresented. Netizens who saw the video commented, "This is malicious editing," "After the carrot knife, now even the illustration," and "The intent is obvious."

In response, MBC issued a statement saying, "In the background screen of the anchor’s remarks in the article, the female offending parent was mistakenly represented with a male image. We have deleted this part and reposted it," and "We apologize for causing confusion to viewers." The reposted news video showed only the school exterior as the background without any illustration.

MBC Apologizes for 'Distorted Subtitles'... "We Will Do Our Best to Prevent Recurrence"

A report titled "Elementary School Students Obsessed with Carrot Knives, Injuries from Toy Knives Increasing," aired on MBC Newsdesk on the 21st. In a scene where a male elementary school student in the interview says, "Girls do it too," the caption "We hit girls" was displayed.
[Photo by MBC Newsdesk]

Earlier, on the 21st, MBC also sparked controversy by reporting on the dangers of the carrot knife toy popular among elementary school students, adding a subtitle "Girls hit too" to an interview with a male elementary student who said "Girls also play with it."

Some online communities reacted by interpreting this as an expression of Korean male violence, while others argued that the subtitle was distorted after listening to the actual audio, leading to conflicts between men and women.

As the controversy spread, reporter A, who covered the story, apologized on their YouTube community, saying, "I sincerely apologize to those who felt uncomfortable due to my negligence," and "I did not intend to label children as potential criminals or portray them that way."

They added, "I had no intention or thought of turning this into a gender conflict," and "For reference, I am not involved in any community activities supporting one gender or hate speech," dismissing the controversy.

MBC also apologized, stating, "During an interview with an elementary student, the subtitle 'Girls hit too' was broadcast, but upon review, it was confirmed that 'Girls also play with it' is correct," and "This was a mishearing of pronunciation while focusing on the seriousness of assaults involving the carrot knife."

They continued, "The teacher observed the reporting process and the use of the interview was approved by both the interviewee and the teacher, but despite this, inaccurate subtitles were broadcast. We apologize to the elementary student and their parents who participated in the interview, as well as to our viewers," and "We will be more cautious and conduct thorough reviews in news reporting to prevent such incidents from recurring."

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