Online Newspaper Association: "Legacy Media Facing Sinking Crisis... News Portal Reform Needed"

Choi Hyungdoo Criticizes "Monopolization of Distribution Behind News Alliance Evaluation Committee... Decline in Quality News"
KONSA Points Out "Mixing News and Personal Content on Portals Encourages Soft News"

The Korea Online Newspaper Association (Chairman Park Hak-yong, hereinafter referred to as KONSA) strongly raised the need for reform of news portals, which are the background of the qualitative decline in journalism.

The Korea Online Newspaper Association (President Park Hak-yong, fifth from the right in the front row) held a monthly representatives meeting, inviting Choi Hyung-doo, a member of the People Power Party (fourth from the right in the front row).
[Photo by Onshinhyeop]

On the 22nd, KONSA held its monthly representatives meeting at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, inviting Representative Choi Hyung-doo (People Power Party). Representative Choi serves as an emergency committee member of the People Power Party and the ruling party's secretary on the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee.

At the meeting, Representative Choi pointed out, "Legacy media is sinking due to news portals, which threatens the core role of the liberal democratic system." He particularly expressed concern that giant news portals, hiding behind the shield of the News Alliance Evaluation Committee, are monopolizing news distribution, resulting in a significant decrease in quality news.

He further emphasized that the qualitative decline of journalism, which forms the foundation of democracy, is becoming serious due to the influence of the distributor Naver, stating, "The current situation where the media is helplessly suffering must be resolved promptly."

Additionally, he announced plans to create a forum for parliamentary discussions where authoritative media organizations like KONSA and both ruling and opposition parties can cooperate.

Moreover, Representative Choi pointed out that regarding the AI Act enacted by the European Union (EU) last month, "While AI companies are required to comply with copyright law and thoroughly disclose data, Korea's AI Act lacks relevant mentions."

Meanwhile, during the invited discussion on the day, criticism was raised that news portals such as Naver and Daum, through recent successive reorganizations, mix legacy media content with personal content on their mobile home feeds, encouraging consumption of soft news and thereby limiting the media's original public interest role.

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