Government Issues Guidelines for Reporters

The Government Information Agency has issued a ‘Directive on Press Reporting’ approved by the prime minister, which has drawn a flurry of criticism.

The directive mandates the creation of an official body for supporting media reporting, which has the authority to set the standard for off the record comments and news embargoes. The body also has the power to directly sanction media outlets and journalists who violate these standards. Those who go against the standard are to be denied access to sources of information and interviews from the government.

The body will include a director and public relations officials from government agencies.

An upside-down proposal-

Kim Chang-ho, the director of the Korean Overseas Information Service, supported the legitimacy of the proposed directive in a press briefing held on August 7, saying that many countries have imposed embargoes and sanctions on media outlets.

That is absurd. In most countries, it is the press, not the government, that decides whether an article is to be off the record or embargoed. Sanctions against those who fail to comply with the rules are imposed by journalists, or at the least, consent from the press is required. The government has a limited role to play in requests that the press keep news off the record or embargoed altogether. That is because the role of the press is to keep the government in check and to ensure the public’s right to know.

When the public safety and national interest are at stake, such as kidnapping of children and more recently, the hostages held by the Taliban in Afghanistan, journalists can choose whether to go off the record or embargo their news at the government’s request. For those who violate the rule, voluntary disciplinary sanctions could follow.

Unprecedented move to put sanctions into writing-

The proposed directive is a move to make the practice into a provision. However, experts say that the government’s power to set embargoes and to punish would limit Korea’s freedom of press.

Yoo Il-sang, professor of the Graduate School of Media in Konkuk University, criticized that, “Substituting the activities of the press apparently deprives the press of autonomy and turns the press into spokesmen for the government.”

Lee Jae-jin, professor at Hanyang University, said, “Behind the current administration’s media policies is the perception that the press has been disorderly organized, and that order should be restored with authority. Putting sanctions against embargoes into provision is unprecedented, however. Such a decision would bring the same results as former authoritative governments’ media policies had.

The overall legality of the plan has been questioned as well. The directive under the authority of prime minister, which is designed to set codes of conduct for public servants, can be unconstitutional if it defines issues related to the public’s right to know, which is guaranteed under the Constitution.

Ha Chang-woo, the president of the Seoul district lawyers association, said, “The role of informants ends with providing information. The timing of reporting should be determined by the press at its discretion. The directive may be unconstitutional if it limits the right to reporting, which is a part of the constitutional right to freedom of the press.”

Kang Gyeong-geun, professor at the law department of Soongsil University, said, “The directive violates the constitutional right to know and the right to report, and the directive should not be adopted.”

Attendance at briefings also matter-

The Korean Overseas Information Service has announced that a reporter who is approved to enter briefing rooms can have his or her approval card cancelled if he or she does not attend briefing for a week.

However, the government introduced briefing rooms for all as reporters from major newspapers that were not allowed to use reporting rooms. Limiting the issuance of approval cards is going against the initial purpose of introducing the open briefing rooms.

Without consent-

The government agency had initially made the directive proposal confidential. When the directive was made public on August 7, it belatedly said that its intention was to generate discussion with media outlets.

However, the discussion has only been held with the Association of Korea Producers and the Association of Internet Newspapers so far. Reporters in government buildings and the Association of Korean Journalists have been excluded from the consensus-building process.

Park Sang-beom of the Korean Journalists’ Association said, “The directive has been made unilaterally by the government, defying our demand for a punishment provision when a public official rejected a request for an interview without a legitimate reason.”

leon@donga.com suhchoi@donga.com