The Targeted Investigations and Suppression of MBC and the Press

◀ Anchor ▶

In particular, not only MBC but also most media organizations are criticizing the search and seizure of MBC and individual reporters as “unreasonable excessive and targeted investigations.”

This is because, after President Yoon Seok-yeol’s “slang” controversy last year, the government and power agencies have been mobilized and pressured MBC.

Reporter Jang Seul-gi will tell you about the cases of ‘MBC’s confinement’ that were continuously inflicted.

◀ Report ▶

In September of last year, President Yoon Seok-yeol was caught up in a “slang controversy” after meeting President Biden on a visit to the United States.

More than 100 media outlets, including MBC, reported this in unison.

By the way, the government-ruling party only made a problem with MBC.

After about 10 members of the People’s Power visited MBC to protest, they filed criminal charges against 4 people, including the president of MBC.

The reason is that it “damaged the president’s honor.”

[권성동/국민의힘 의원 (지난해 9월)]

″It is an ulterior motive to shake the regime by claiming a simple incident as a diplomatic disaster.″

Two months later, ahead of President Yoon’s trip to Southeast Asia, he suddenly broke custom and excluded only MBC reporters from boarding the private plane.

[윤석열 대통령 (지난해 11월)]

″We have provided reporters with the convenience of reporting on these diplomatic and security issues, and in that sense…″

Since then, powerful government agencies have been mobilized to pressure MBC.

In November of last year, the National Tax Service conducted a tax investigation and imposed a fine of 52 billion won, and in December, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs filed a lawsuit for corrective information.

It is said that ‘MBC has endangered the ROK-US alliance’.

The Broadcasting Culture Promotion Association, which is a major shareholder of MBC, and the visiting team were also subjected to pressure.

Last January, the Office for Government Policy Coordination held an inspection against the Korea Communications Commission regarding the appointment of the visiting director, and in March, the Board of Audit and Inspection directly stepped forward and launched a ‘national audit’.

During this process, the Board of Audit and Inspection sent official letters several times to MBC, which was not legally audited, asking them to ‘submit the data’.

The reason why MBC and six major media organizations defined the search and seizure by the police as a ‘targeted investigation and suppression of the press’ is that the government has continued to exert open and omnidirectional pressure against MBC.

This is Jang Seul-gi from MBC News.

Video Editing: Jo Ara