ID :
205187
Mon, 09/05/2011 - 08:03
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/205187
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Acquittal of journalists
(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Sept. 5)
Acquittal of journalists
:Final ruling stresses press freedom, responsibility
It is only natural the Supreme Court found the five TV journalists who made mad cow reports not guilty Friday. There can be little doubt the public???s right to know and press freedom to fulfill it should be ahead of government employees??? reputation.
The top court just reaffirmed the legal common sense that media outlets??? criticism of government policies and reports on public officials cannot be subject to defamation suits unless they are ``plainly malicious or notably lacking in validity.??? MBC TV???s investigative report contained some factual errors but was mainly aimed at criticizing the government???s helter-skelter bargaining, not defaming the negotiators.
Of course, the public broadcaster and related PDs cannot be free from the blame for distorting and exaggerating some facts, knowingly or not. They should make a public apology as well as air corrections.
In this regard, the highest tribunal???s ruling should be a reminder of the importance of both the freedom and responsibility of the press.
The three repeated acquittals made by different levels of the courts prove the three-year legal battle was unnecessary from the start. A question arises here: Whether and what lessons the government and the prosecution have learned from the highly politicized litigation and their ultimate defeat.
Unfortunately, the answer seems negative. ``People know the problems of that report better,??? said Chung Un-cheon, former agriculture minister and complainant in this suit. ``I???ve never seen even a cattle let alone a human inflicted by mad cow disease.??? Aside from the fact that the bovine spongiform encephalopathy is a disease that has a decades-long incubation period, what mattered from the start was not its actual probability but the administration???s less than sincere negotiating attitude.
Also, MBC???s ``PD Notebook??? might have served as the catalyst of the candlelit protests of three years ago, but what made them continue for far longer than expected was not the fear of mad cow disease itself ??? except probably for some middle-school girls ??? but the three-month-old Lee Myung-bak administration???s arrogance in justifying its poorly conducted trade negotiations and other misconduct in governance since its transition days, including the highly nepotistic personnel appointment. The millions of protesters just wanted to send a warning that they were aware of all this.
Yet the government and conservative media regarded the report and prolonged rallies as little more than some impure elements attempting to rock the administration by deceiving ignorant crowd.
The time has long past for the nation???s power elite, albeit confronting ideologically hostile North Korea for decades, stop reviling anti-government protesters who are concerned about their own health and welfare as well as the government???s heavy-handed administrative style as anti-state, anti-social forces.
There were reports some law enforcement officials are still tracking those who took part in the 2008 protests, including housewives. President Lee, who had to apologize to the people for poor bargaining not once but twice, has recently struck back, asking, ``Why are there no former protesters repenting their mistakes (despite no occurrence of mad cow disease and growing market share of the U.S. beef)???? Little wonder Lee has since promoted all the negotiators and prosecutors involved in the beef negotiations and defamation suits.
While the government is moving to relax import rules even further in the face of beefed-up U.S. pressure, however, Japan and Taiwan have maintained far stricter health standards in importing U.S. meat products, even without popular protests. Meat vendors say major buyers of the low-priced U.S. beef are inflation-stricken working poor, not wealthy people, such as ranking judiciary and administrative officials.
Pitiful are the people with leaders who cannot ??? and would not ??? listen to their voices.
(END)
Acquittal of journalists
:Final ruling stresses press freedom, responsibility
It is only natural the Supreme Court found the five TV journalists who made mad cow reports not guilty Friday. There can be little doubt the public???s right to know and press freedom to fulfill it should be ahead of government employees??? reputation.
The top court just reaffirmed the legal common sense that media outlets??? criticism of government policies and reports on public officials cannot be subject to defamation suits unless they are ``plainly malicious or notably lacking in validity.??? MBC TV???s investigative report contained some factual errors but was mainly aimed at criticizing the government???s helter-skelter bargaining, not defaming the negotiators.
Of course, the public broadcaster and related PDs cannot be free from the blame for distorting and exaggerating some facts, knowingly or not. They should make a public apology as well as air corrections.
In this regard, the highest tribunal???s ruling should be a reminder of the importance of both the freedom and responsibility of the press.
The three repeated acquittals made by different levels of the courts prove the three-year legal battle was unnecessary from the start. A question arises here: Whether and what lessons the government and the prosecution have learned from the highly politicized litigation and their ultimate defeat.
Unfortunately, the answer seems negative. ``People know the problems of that report better,??? said Chung Un-cheon, former agriculture minister and complainant in this suit. ``I???ve never seen even a cattle let alone a human inflicted by mad cow disease.??? Aside from the fact that the bovine spongiform encephalopathy is a disease that has a decades-long incubation period, what mattered from the start was not its actual probability but the administration???s less than sincere negotiating attitude.
Also, MBC???s ``PD Notebook??? might have served as the catalyst of the candlelit protests of three years ago, but what made them continue for far longer than expected was not the fear of mad cow disease itself ??? except probably for some middle-school girls ??? but the three-month-old Lee Myung-bak administration???s arrogance in justifying its poorly conducted trade negotiations and other misconduct in governance since its transition days, including the highly nepotistic personnel appointment. The millions of protesters just wanted to send a warning that they were aware of all this.
Yet the government and conservative media regarded the report and prolonged rallies as little more than some impure elements attempting to rock the administration by deceiving ignorant crowd.
The time has long past for the nation???s power elite, albeit confronting ideologically hostile North Korea for decades, stop reviling anti-government protesters who are concerned about their own health and welfare as well as the government???s heavy-handed administrative style as anti-state, anti-social forces.
There were reports some law enforcement officials are still tracking those who took part in the 2008 protests, including housewives. President Lee, who had to apologize to the people for poor bargaining not once but twice, has recently struck back, asking, ``Why are there no former protesters repenting their mistakes (despite no occurrence of mad cow disease and growing market share of the U.S. beef)???? Little wonder Lee has since promoted all the negotiators and prosecutors involved in the beef negotiations and defamation suits.
While the government is moving to relax import rules even further in the face of beefed-up U.S. pressure, however, Japan and Taiwan have maintained far stricter health standards in importing U.S. meat products, even without popular protests. Meat vendors say major buyers of the low-priced U.S. beef are inflation-stricken working poor, not wealthy people, such as ranking judiciary and administrative officials.
Pitiful are the people with leaders who cannot ??? and would not ??? listen to their voices.
(END)
