Five from broadcasting firm indicted in 'mad cow' report case

By Shin Hae-in

SEOUL, June 18 (Yonhap) -- The prosecution indicted five employees at one of the country's largest broadcasters Thursday on charges of defaming government officials with a controversial report critical of the administration's decision to resume U.S. beef imports last year.

Four producers and a script writer at MBC were indicted without physical
detention a year after Seoul's agriculture ministry filed a complaint with the
Supreme Prosecutors' Office accusing them of airing a biased report on the safety
of U.S. beef.
The creators of the much-disputed episode of "PD Notebook," aired April 29 last
year, defamed then Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun and Min Dong-seok, a
negotiator on U.S. beef imports, by distorting facts, deliberately mistranslating
and exaggerating the threat of mad cow disease associated with U.S. beef, the
prosecution said.
The Lee Myung-bak government faced a massive public backlash following an
agreement with Washington to lift almost all restrictions on U.S. beef, including
the age of butchered cattle, just two months after its inauguration in February
last year.
The report played a pivotal role in touching off weeks-long street protests,
forcing the Lee administration to renegotiate detailed terms with Washington.
President Lee, then facing his lowest approval ratings since taking office,
publicly apologized twice over the controversy.
"Such distortions and seemingly deliberate mistranslation led ignorant viewers
into believing that they faced a large threat from mad cow disease," prosecutors
said. "As a result, the two government officials' social reputations were
severely damaged."
The government argues the local concerns over U.S. beef were largely fueled by
the investigative news program, which suggested that those who consume the meat
could contract the human form of the brain wasting illness and that South Koreans
were more vulnerable to the disease than Americans.
Producers of "PD Notebook" called the indictment an "act of suppression against
media freedom and democracy."
"I do not understand what kind of 'purpose' the prosecution is accusing us of,"
said Kim Bo-seul, one of the four MBC producers facing indictment. "We have never
mentioned the names of the government officials for any purpose in the program."
The producers of the weekly investigative program had aired a public apology in
July last year, admitting they had mistranslated parts of an interview with an
American purportedly diagnosed with the human form of mad cow disease. They deny,
however, the prosecutors' accusation that they "deliberately" exaggerated or
distorted the facts.
Critics charge the clash between MBC and the authorities is part of the
government's overarching strategy to tame media outlets. MBC is considered to be
the more generally left-leaning among Korea's three top television networks.
South Korea stopped importing U.S. beef in 2003 because of cases of mad cow
disease in the U.S. In 2006, Seoul allowed only boneless beef from cattle under
30 months old.