A Low Score for Freedom of the Press in Korea

A report has been announced that freedom of the press last year in Korea made a low score—60 out of 100—especially due to the lack of independence of the press and the strong power of labor unions.

The Korea Journalists Club, led by senior members in press circles, released its “2003 Report on Freedom of the Press in Korea” yesterday in which such low score in the field of the press and broadcasting was announced.

A “Committee for Evaluation” consisting of six senior members of the press and veteran scholars in journalism, in order to measure the degree of controlling the press, evaluated 30 items with perfect score of seven in five sectors—such as politics, inside of the press, economy, legislation, and social ethnic control—and the higher the score, the freer the press.

According to the results, the Korean press made as low as 4.2 (the middle level), equivalent to 60 out of a 100 perfect score. In general, the press’s freedom is seriously infringed by legislation control (4.9), the press itself (3.9), social control by civic groups or citizens (3.9), and political economic control (4.2).

Sorting them by items, “political independence of the press” scored a 2.6 and “pressure and influence of labor unions” scored a 2.6, which are spotlighted as main factors violating the freedom of the press, hovering between 3 (controlled a little) and 2 (controlled in general). A source from the committee added, “The power of labor unions turned out to be a major factor in diminishing the freedom of the press”

In addition, low accessibility to public servants (3.1) and unreliable revealing of government’s reports and briefings (3.8) also play a role in violating the freedom of the press.

The Korea Journalists Club offered suggestions such as securing a government promise on freedom in reporting, embracing both voices of civic groups and mass media, and political independence and impartiality in public broadcasting.

Jin-Yeong Lee ecolee@donga.com