MBC News Desk reported on the controversy over President Yoon Seok-yeol’s profanity during his visit to the United States in September 2022. /MBC News Desk YouTube
In relation to the MBC ‘subtitle controversy’ that arose during President Yoon Seok-yeol’s visit to New York in 2022, the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCC) decided on the 11th to impose fines, the highest level of severe punishment, on two MBC news programs. YTN, which reported similar content, was given a ‘disciplinary action’, while OBS and JTBC were given a ‘caution’.
On this day, the National Defense Commission held a plenary meeting at the Mok-dong Broadcasting Hall in Seoul and imposed legal sanctions, including fines, on four cases, including MBC’s ’12 News’ and ‘News Desk’, YTN’s ‘The News’, OBS’ ‘News O’, and JTBC’s ‘Newsroom’. It was decided. Attending the meeting on this day were Chairman Ryu Hee-rim, standing committee member Hwang Seong-wook, committee members Moon Jae-wan and Lee Jeong-ok, and opposition party recommenders Kim Yu-jin and Yoon Seong-ok, among others.
The committee members argued about the level of disciplinary action for MBC’s report on the ‘subtitle controversy’. This controversy originated from President Yoon’s remarks while leaving a conference in New York chaired by U.S. President Joe Biden in September 2022.
At the time, MBC News Desk reported President Yoon’s remarks with the subtitle, ‘What will Biden do out of embarrassment if these bastards don’t approve it in the (US) National Assembly?’ The President’s Office explained that it meant ‘if it blows’, not ‘Biden’, and that it meant our National Assembly, not the U.S. Congress.
Last January, the first trial ruled that MBC should issue a corrected report regarding the subtitle controversy. The court ruled that MBC’s report was false based on the expert’s voice analysis results, which stated, “It is impossible to decipher whether it is ‘Biden’ or ‘if blown.'”
Commissioner Kim Yu-jin, a recommendation from the opposition party, said, “The most problematic thing about the president’s remarks was not the part related to ‘Biden’ but the profanity. “Unless the broadcasters distorted it as if the president had used profanity that he did not use, even if it was somewhat inaccurate, it should not be treated as if it were a massively distorted report like it is now,” she said, expressing the opinion of ‘no problem’.
Representative Yoon Seong-ok, a recommendation from the opposition party, said, “The nine companies’ reports are not much different from the MBC report, but MBC imposes fines and cautions in some places.” He expressed the opinion that there was ‘no problem’, saying, “(the committee) cannot force an apology.”
On the other hand, Commissioner Kim Woo-seok, who recommended the government and passport, said, “The most important thing in diplomatic issues is national interest, but MBC’s reporting behavior is very far from national interest.” He added, “There is no justification for reducing the level of sanctions in a situation where the public broadcaster neither apologizes nor corrects.” “He expressed the opinion that a fine should be imposed.”
Chairman Ryu Hee-rim said, “The National Defense Commission has never ordered an apology or corrective report,” and added, “We only made the decision considering that the broadcaster had notified us that it had taken follow-up measures.”
The amount of the fine against MBC will be decided this month. The standard fine for terrestrial broadcasters is 30 million won and can be increased or reduced within the range of 50%.
In addition, the National Security Commission decided to ‘discipline officials’ against YTN’s ‘The News’, which made similar reports, and ‘caution’ against OBS TV’s ‘News O’ and JTBC’s ‘Newsroom’. These are all legal sanctions.
2024-03-11 11:52:49
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