Media workers escalate protest against president-appointed chiefs

SEOUL, Jan. 29 (Yonhap) -- A months-long confrontation between President Lee
Myung-bak and broadcasting firms is set to further intensify, as employees at the
country's largest broadcaster were to walk out on Thursday.
Since he took office 11 months ago, Lee has been at odds with local television
stations which accuse him of attempting to tame and control the media by filling
their top positions with those favorable to the conservative government.
Employees at KBS, South Korea's largest public broadcaster, said they will go on
an indefinite strike from Thursday, in protest against their new chief Lee
Byung-soon who dismissed three workers opposing his appointment last summer. Lee
was named the head of KBS by the president following the dismissal of Jung
Yun-joo, a well-known dissenter to President Lee's media reforms.
Broadcast workers have been criticizing President Lee after he named a confidant
to head cable news channel YTN and replaced the KBS president appointed by the
previous liberal administration.
They regard the move as initial steps in the president's ultimate plan to
privatize state-run television channels, a move strongly opposed by broadcasters
while welcomed by market-dominating newspaper companies.
"We were forced to use our strongest and final card," unions of KBS journalists
and producers said in a joint press release. "The company wants the dismissed
employees to offer an apology that they have no reason to offer. This is not a
political protest. It is a protest to wake the company."
Meanwhile, cable channel YTN filed legal suits against dozens of unionists who
launched an office blockade against their president Koo Bon-hong earlier this
month, aggravating the labor-management tension.
YTN union members launched a sit-in outside Koo's office for four days from Jan.
16, claiming Koo again "played puppet" to the government and ignored their
opinion while appointing a newsroom director. The appointed director had not won
majority support in a vote by newsroom journalists.
Media reforms have been a source of heated dispute here as broadcasters and
progressive activists oppose the plan under which large firms and major
newspapers would be allowed to own television networks.
The current law, established in the 1980s, prohibits cross-ownership of print
media and television stations to prevent monopoly in the media industry.
President Lee, a former CEO and strong believer in market principles, has been
seeking to amend the laws since his inauguration to spur competition between
media outlets and bolster the sectors he believes are falling behind in global
trends.
Dissenters call the plan "pro-conglomerate" because only three right-leaning
vernacular newspapers -- who already control nearly 70 percent of print media
circulation -- are said to have enough resources to enter the television
industry.
hayney@yna.co.kr
(END)