Ministry of Culture and Media Foundation Suspend Use of 'Government Advertising Index'

Provide Reference Materials Upon Request from Government Agencies and Other Advertisers

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Press Foundation announced on the 28th that they will discontinue the use of the 'Government Advertising Index'.

The Ministry and the Press Foundation plan to provide the index only as a reference material if government agencies or other advertisers request data necessary for media selection in the future.

The Government Advertising Index was applied to print media starting in 2022 as a follow-up measure after the suspension of the use of ABC circulation figures in July 2021. It was composed of multiple indicators, including effectiveness indicators centered on readership rates and reliability (social responsibility) indicators.

However, it sparked controversy over the appropriateness of the readership survey segmentation criteria and the decline in result reliability, and was criticized for providing media rankings based on government-set standards.

During the National Assembly audit last October, the manipulation of 'newspaper readership' statistics became a controversy. At that time, the ruling party pointed out, "The readership rates of the top newspaper and progressive media differ by six times, but they were adjusted to fall into the same first-place category," adding, "In addition to readership rates, a ‘social responsibility indicator’ was added as a government advertising execution criterion, which inevitably led to distorted results. This is statistical manipulation obvious to anyone." The opposition party rebutted in the Korea Press Foundation special audit that there was no statistical manipulation.

Under the current Government Advertising Act and its enforcement decree, the opinions of government agencies and other advertisers are prioritized in selecting promotional media, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism can provide data if advertisers request necessary materials.

The Ministry stated, "We will continue to gather opinions and monitor to effectively support advertisers' autonomous media selection while preventing unnecessary controversies that could undermine market trust."

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