[Editorial] The Law on Periodicals Intending to Control the Press Not to Be Accepted

The revision bill of `law on the registration of periodicals` which 27 lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties submitted to National Assembly, should be withdrawn or abrogated. There are lots of harmful provisions that may encroach upon media agencies` editing and management rights.

We can pay attention to the situation in which the revision bill for the law on periodicals was submitted since the government`s `press reformation` has been dropped due to protest by the public, the corruption scandals occurred successively, and local elections and presidential election are near at hand. We cannot help but be in doubt that the government has any intention of pressuring the news papers that are critical about political authorities, and let lawmakers of the ruling New Millennium Democratic Party submit the bill as the legislation introduced not by the government but by lawmakers.

First of all, the revision bill makes it compulsory to organize an editorial committee that consists of both labor and management, and to lay down editing rules and publish them, which is not to be forced by law. The independence of editing rights is not something to be intervened from the outside but must be self-controlled by media agencies.

It can be a systematic device for the government to interfere without limit in the management of media agencies if they should report every matter in the management like circulation, financial statements, subscription fee, advertisement charges, business reports and inspection reports to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism which is the competent authority of the press. What does it mean when the government knows every corner of the management of newspaper companies? The prohibition of distribution without charge contradicts Newspaper Notification which allows free distribution in within a 20 percent range.

Therefore, the revision bill may enable the government to know every detail of media firms and to interfere in the management. The final object of the law on the periodicals is the extension of the freedom of speech, but the government can misuse the revision bill to control the press. It is an anachronism, which we did not see even under the military regime, to create a bill that pressures and controls the press although the government claims to be democratic.

It is hard to understand that the government has abused its political power especially in connection to critical newspapers, leaving out broadcast media since the current government came into power.

The lesson which we learn from the tax investigation on the newspaper companies last year is that the press reform cannot be imposed by the government, but the press itself must implement it. If the government should try to control the press again, it will be endorsing an authoritarian idea that runs counter to democracy.

We have repeatedly said that the life of the press is its freedom and autonomy. If the law controls the press, the press has no substance of its own. We cannot accept any attempt to trample the freedom of the press.