(EDITORIAL from the Korea Herald on Jan. 7) - Media war

While political parties are at loggerheads over economic and social legislation, including several media-related bills, the nation's major newspapers and broadcasters are in heated competition to secure advantage in the impending transformation of the media market.

At the center of the media war are the three high-circulation conservative
dailies - Chosun, JoongAng and Dong-a - on one side and MBC, or Munhwa
Broadcasting Corp., on the other. The three dailies, which have earned the
collective acronym of Cho-Joong-Dong for their similar ideological orientations,
seem to have chosen MBC as their major target in media restructuring. The reforms
envisioned in the government bills would remove the boundary between newspapers
and broadcasters.
Almost every day, the three dailies publish articles reviewing the past and
present of the terrestrial TV and radio broadcaster to expose its alleged
weakness in management and programming. In commentaries, these papers have
strongly argued that the competitiveness of the nation's broadcasters can be
strengthened by allowing newspapers and conglomerates to own shares of
broadcasters.
The bills seek to lift the decades-old ban on newspapers and large firms from
operating broadcasters and set generous ceilings for their ownership of
television networks. They will be able to hold up to 20 percent of shares in
terrestrial broadcasters, up to a 30 percent stake in comprehensive cable
channels and up to 49 percent of news-only broadcasters if the government bills
are adopted.
As the conservative dailies came in support of the media bills, the leftist
Democratic Party and the Democratic Labor Party went into diehard opposition to
the legislation. They have condemned the bills as products of the Lee Myung-bak
government's "attempt to keep both print and broadcast media under its control."
The opposition forces have portrayed the media bills as the number one national
issue. They say it should be prioritized over the many economic bills to overcome
the worst financial turmoil.
Supporters of the opposition claim there is an "evil" collusion between the
government and major newspapers under the guise of adapting to new communications
technology.
The dailies accuse broadcasters of attempting to protect their vested interests
in defiance of transformation in the media environment. In the war of all against
all, progressive dailies are filling much of their space with scathing criticism
of the administration and those major dailies which they say are "licking the
boots" of the government.
As we survey the cacophonous media world, we must point out that the government's
introduction of the media bills was premature at best.
The authorities need to prepare certain new systems to reflect technological
advancement in the broadcasting and communications sector. However, the inclusion
of the media bills has caused a serious delay in the passage of scores of urgent
economic bills.
The "privatization" of MBC is a long shot, even if the media bills are finally
passed by the ruling party. Currently estimated to be worth about 10 trillion
won, the broadcaster is certainly out of the reach of the three major dailies,
which have limited assets. They may consider operating just composite cable
channels or news-only services rather than the mammoth broadcaster, which also
has controlling shares in 19 provincial TV stations.
The ongoing media war is absolutely unnecessary and is a great disservice to the
public. Newspapers, broadcasters, communications businesses and the
administration should instead closely cooperate with each other to improve
services with more informative and entertaining content, helped by advanced
technology.
(END)