Even the media civic groups and the opposition party say, “Broadcasting Act is a top priority for the 22nd National Assembly.”

The ‘Three Broadcasting Laws’ were canceled last year due to the president’s veto.

The media, civic groups, and the opposition party raised their voices, saying that the ‘Three Broadcasting Acts’ should be promoted again as the first bill of the 22nd National Assembly, which will begin soon.

Reporter Lim So-jeong will report.

◀ Report ▶

Six organizations, including the ‘Joint Action to Stop Control of the Media’, comprised of 90 media and civic groups, and the Korea Broadcasting Journalists Association, took action.

″Let’s stop the control of the media!″

The last general election was criticized as a result that reflected public sentiment to stop the current government’s control of the media.

[윤창현/전국언론노조 위원장]
″It is clear evidence that the devastation in the media scene during the two years of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration is throwing away the common sense and consensus of our society.″

The opposition political parties that will enter the 22nd National Assembly also agreed on media reform.

Unusually, most opposition parties gathered, including the Democratic Party, the Fatherland Reform Party, the New Reform Party, and the Progressive Party, regardless of whether they were conservative or progressive.

They pointed out the recent failure of the Sewol Ferry documentary on KBS and YTN, the replacement of the program host, and the heavy disciplinary action by the National Security Commission on broadcasting companies as examples of media control.

[고민정/더불어민주당 의원]
″Not only the Korea Communications Commission, which is at the forefront of controlling the media, but the behavior of the Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, who is even filing complaints about abetment, is something that cannot be seen with open eyes.″

There are three things that civic media groups and the opposition party raised as top priorities for press freedom in the 22nd National Assembly.

First, it is a re-enactment of the ‘Three Broadcasting Acts’, which were passed at the plenary session last year, but were abolished due to President Yoon Seok-yeol’s veto.

The three broadcasting laws include provisions to expand the right to recommend directors of public broadcasting, which has been monopolized by the ruling and opposition parties, to related organizations and academia.

[이준석/개혁신당 대표]
″It is clear that the forces that control the media will be judged by the people, regardless of whether they are 80 or 80. The group that tried to enact the Press Arbitration Act lost in the presidential election, and the group that tried to block the enactment of the three broadcasting laws lost in the general election.″

Political parties announced that they would push for a government investigation into media suppression and the establishment of a media reform special committee to reform the media at the same time as the opening of the National Assembly.

This is Lim So-jeong from MBC News.

Video coverage: Seo Hyeon-kwon, Park Joo-il / Video editing: Lee Hwa-young