[Reporter`s View] Is the press a whipping boy?

``What can we do if the press comes out to instigate a ` not in my backyard (NIMBY)` mentality?``

A disgruntled ranking official of the Seoul metropolitan government said as the domestic press reported expansion of garbage incinerators planned by City Hall.

He expressed his displeasure at what he claimed to be incorrect reports encouraging less than 1 percent of Seoul`s population taking a ``NIMBY`` attitude. The press has not offered any alternative, even though it is well aware of the gravity of the question of garbage disposal, he said.

He recognized that the municipality built incinerators in spite of opposition by the communities of their sites, and the subject is a hot potato to all parties concerned. Some neighborhood residents have staged organized protests to keep garbage trucks from reaching the incinerators. But it is open to doubt whether the press has served to encourage the NIMBY phenomenon.

Residents near incinerators complained that the city government broke its repeated promises not to accept garbage shipments from other wards and that they are seeking to shift the blame for the negative consequences upon the residents. A resident of Nowon Ward said city officials had agreed in writing that garbage from Dobong and Gangbuk wards never would be delivered to the Nowon Ward incinerator because the former wards had secured locations to build their own incinerators.

A resident near the Gangnam Ward incinerator said its incinerator was built on an unduly large scale to prepare for the rapidly increasing population of the ward and that there was no plan to further debate the matter with city officials, as they are prone to reverse positions as they see fit. Most citizens believe the municipality has built excessive facilities based on mistaken projections.

The city government needs to clear the air over its own competency and responsibility prior to making decisions on garbage disposal. Laying the blame on the press will get nowhere. It is more important to convince the citizenry of the relevance of increasing large incinerators and restore their trust in city administration.

Park Yun-Chul yc97@donga.com