Another politician joined the ruling Democratic Party’s (DP) controversial “media reform” movement, bringing about strong backlash from the conservative opposition. (https://onekoreanetwork.com/2021/04/15/roks-ruling-democratic-party-criticized-over-attempts-to-reshape-media/)
Kim Eui-kyeom, a liberal lawmaker and former presidential spokesman for the Moon Jae-in administration, argued that current major online news portals have problems in their algorithms that decide how articles are displayed and ordered. He said it is necessary to create another news portal called the “Open News Portal” that is government funded.
“Current online news portals are like political pornography,” Kim said at a seminar at the National Assembly with fellow liberal lawmakers on April 27. “They are degraded due to sadism and immoral mockery, and they are full of low-quality articles that give off an offensive odor.”
Kim argued that current online news portals have algorithms that cause bias problems by only focusing on individual users’ preferences. He called for establishing an “editorial committee” comprised of civic groups, academia, media, and other sectors and have them review news articles presented by each media outlet and decide whether to upload them on the government-funded portal.
“The government should only participate in funding and should not get involved in the portal’s operation and editorial independence,” Kim argued. “We should consider ways to prioritize media that provide news to the Open News Portal when it comes to funding through government advertisement.” Kim added that he will have the government provide so-called “media voucher” points to online users using the new online news portal. The users can use their points to support certain media and reporters.
Kim said one of the biggest problems with current news portals is that their quality has degraded due to influence from the conservative side, and referenced Pavlov’s famous dog experiment.
“The sound of (a) bell caused an increase in salivation among experiment objects [dogs], and the sound of a ‘mouse click’ induces secretion of hormones among reporters,” Kim said. “When I look at reporters who are leaving their workforce lately, it reminds me of the more than 700 dogs sacrificed because of the experiment.”
He added that media reform should be the biggest issue ahead of next year’s presidential election, and that a ban on newspapers operating broadcasting companies should be considered.
The main opposition People Power Party (PP) criticized Kim’s plan as “something that would only be possible in a communist country.”
Hwang Kyu-hwan, deputy spokesperson of the PPP, said his plan was similar to that of DP lawmaker Yoon Young-chan, who ordered officials from the online news portal Kakao to come into the National Assembly for a meeting after he was unsatisfied with the portal’s news page on that day. Yoon was a senior secretary to President Moon for public communication before becoming a lawmaker.
“It would have been better to confess that they do not like news articles delivered to people that criticize the government’s wrongdoings,” Hwang said. “Did Kim really take over a legislative seat just to control media and push ahead with creating an anachronistic government-censored portal?”
Hwang added that, “people still have not forgiven Kim Eui-kyeom for deceiving them through real-estate speculation.”
Kim, a former reporter at the liberal Hankyoreh newspaper, resigned earlier as presidential spokesman over allegations he used his influence to get loans on favorable terms to buy an expensive apartment. He took over a legislative seat surrendered by Kim Jin-ae, who ran for the Seoul mayoral post in the April by-election.
Kim Keun-sik, a professor at Kyungnam University and a member of the PPP, said Kim Eui-kyeom is trying to control media that is already largely influenced by the government. He pointed out that public media such as KBS and MBC are already under the influence of the current administration, since the government can appoint a pro-government individual as new CEO at each company. He said there also is criticism that other government-funded media outlets such as YTN and Yonhap News TV are biased toward the government.
“The private newspapers and broadcasting companies are only those that are divided into liberals and conservatives to compete with each other,” he said. Kim Kuen-sik argued that the government should not interfere with free competition between private companies that do not receive government funding.
“If Kim Eui-kyeom wants to control news portals in the name of media reform, which sounds like something that is only possible under a dictatorship, I think (it) would be less harmful to the country for him to speculate in real estate.”
Kim voluntarily resigned from his Blue House job in March 2019 after an explosive backlash to reports that dabbled in real estate speculation – possibly with inside information.
Kim purchased a two-story building in Heukseok-dong, Dongjak District, southwestern Seoul, for 2.57 billion won ($2.26 million) in July 2018. The area was being redeveloped, which could lead to big profits. The area was considered so hot for investors that the government labeled it an “antispeculation zone” in August, just weeks after Kim’s purchase. Real estate investors in antispeculation zones are only allowed to take out a single mortgage.
Kim was criticized for taking over 1.6 billion won in loans from a bank and individuals to purchase the building. At that time, Kim said, “My wife made the decision without consulting me. When I was aware, it was too late to reverse things. This, too, is my fault.”
The public was very angry at the time, as South Koreans are very sensitive about real estate issues, particularly the government’s intervention in regulating prices. The Moon administration, often through Kim’s statements, continued to argue that the Moon administration was different from previous conservative administrations. Moon spokesmen repeatedly said they are not close to the corruption that occurred during the previous administrations.
As spokesman, Kim also said that “Civilian surveillance does not exist in the DNA of the Moon Jae-in administration.” This became one of the key phrases that the opposition party uses to ridicule the current administration for its morally superior attitude.
Whenever real estate speculation scandals related to liberal government officials arise, including the latest one involving President Moon Jae-in’s post-retirement residence, there are many comments that read, “But real estate speculation does exist in the DNA of the Moon Jae-in administration.”
