Cable TV Association Urges Daum to Ease Portal Entry Conditions for 'Journalists Association Membership'

"SO, Producing 560 Local Specialty Articles Daily"

The Korea Cable TV Broadcasting Association (hereinafter KCTA) stated on the 27th that Kakao's portal Daum should relax the condition regarding membership in journalist associations as a criterion for media channel admission.

KCTA said, "Daum announced the 2024 media channel admission notice targeting local media and began accepting applications, but it presents membership in specific journalist associations as a major criterion."

It added, "Since the Cable TV Broadcasting Journalists Association (hereinafter KCJA), a journalist council of cable TV local channels and pay TV operators (SO), faithfully performs the roles of local media and functions of press organizations, they should be included in the evaluation criteria."

Kakao's media admission criteria require meeting conditions such as ▲membership in the Korea Journalists Association or the Broadcast Journalists Federation ▲own article ratio of 30% or more ▲local-related specialized article ratio of 50% or more.

KCTA said, "SOs produce about 140,000 local articles annually, averaging 560 articles daily, demonstrating higher expertise than any local media and meeting the presented criteria," adding, "In particular, SOs are broadcasters subject to strict government licensing and periodic re-approval."

It continued, "SOs have attempted to join journalist associations and the Broadcast Journalists Federation multiple times in the past but were frustrated by high entry barriers," and "thus, they established KCJA last year to find a breakthrough."

Hwang Hee-man, chairman of KCTA, said, "Cable TV SOs play a key role in realizing the public value of local communities and representing the voices of local residents," and "the admission criteria limited to specific organizations should be reconsidered."

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