[Opinion] Internet Users Flock to Portal Sites

Internet portal sites are unique in that they emerged as a “power” in such a short time. A poet once said, “I woke up in the morning and found myself a star,” and it is true for the portals as well. The portal sites function as a “front door” to the Internet world. Many netizens developed a habit to automatically access Internet portal sites as soon as they turn on their computers. Different from vogue, habits do not change easily.

The uninvited guests of concentrated power are “monopoly,” “abuse,” and “collusion.” Looking into the news service provided by portals, one can easily find those uninvited guests. Portals are where all the news articles produced by the traditional media are posted. As a result, people check out portal sites to read news, which made portals “the media above the media” that monopolizes the news market in Korea. It is portal site editors who decide which news is posted on the top page. While making the decisions, “power abuse” can get in the way. However, portals are not recognized as media by law and therefore, do not have to take any legal responsibility.

President Roh has recently invited representatives of Internet portal sites to Cheong Wa Dae. He recognized the importance of the portals, saying, “Deciding which news to post and which not to is the most important activity of the media.” Meanwhile, the “Journalists for Democracy and Market Economy,” which launched in April to monitor political neutrality of portals, has come up with a slogan, “The 2007 presidential election will be decided by the Internet portal sites.” Given this situation, it is easy to understand why the current administration is expressing affection towards portals, the new power.

There have long been criticisms that portals are favorable to the Roh administration. For example, a news headline reading, “Mr. 000 released on parole” was changed into “the sellout is released on parole” in an Internet portal site. The Mr.000 was a member of the opposition party, which was stigmatized as a “group of sellouts” after a bribery case. The mother companies of Internet portal sites are information technology (IT) companies. IT companies are easily affected by government policies, and therefore, they have to act according to the situation. Under the circumstances, claiming to give freedom to portals is nothing different from encouraging the collusion between the government and the Internet portal sites. Currently, a bill calling for portals to take responsibility as media is under consideration. The bill requires portals to fill more than 50 percent of the front page with news headlines to clearly show their political inclination. Portals are best remained politically neutral, but as they are given power, it is only fair to monitor them.

Hong Chan-sik, Editorial Writer, chansik@donga.com