• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.187-195
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• 2015

This paper purposes to identify who is/are in charge of KBS broadcasting programming in view of freedom of broadcasting and interest of audience under the circumstance that Blue House put pressure on KBS to refrain from reporting Sewol Ferry disaster. For this purpose this study has reviewed prior theses, books, journals, laws, and cases, etc. It is analyzed that principal agents in charge of freedom of broadcasting journalism and programming are KBS employees in charge of producing broadcasting programs and KBS chief programming officer, who is appointed by KBS CEO. KBS CEO, who can easily be influenced by governmental pressure in terms of KBS structure, should avoid interfering with programming and producing directly or indirectly for freedom of the press and public interests.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.74
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• pp.177-196
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• 2015

This paper aims to plan a new research program on the parallel relationship between Korean press and political power, by providing concepts on the mode of existence of professional journalists in Korea. In the midst of the economic crisis of Korean journalism, relative deteriorisation in the political democracy and the liberty of press, and changes in news ecosystem due to the revolution of digital news, the status of professional journalists is at stake. In these circumstances, this paper argues that many existing researches on journalistic professionalism need to be reconstructed in the perspective of professional project. It enables, first of all, an evaluation on actual issues of professional journalists from the actor perspective, i.e. economic interests, social closure, regulative bargain with the authority. Secondly, concerning decoupling phenomenon of journalism and democracy which became salient in the contemporary society, this study raises a necessity to create new logical relations around concepts of journalist professionalism. And we will find, in this situation, a beginning of new evaluation on the mode of existence of professional journalists, that has been possibly developped within the old, assymetric relationship between State-press. And finally, this study proposes to consider a category of professional journalists as a vehicle that helps to conceptualize the old, parallel relationship between Korean press and political power.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.38
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• pp.211-244
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• 2007

Article 17 and 18 of the Korean Constitution respectively prescribe the violation of individual's right to privacy and the secrecy of wire communication. Meanwhile, Article 20 of the Criminal Code provides that an act which is conducted within the ambit of laws or pursuant to accepted business practices or which does not violate the social norms shall not be punishable. In 1999, the Constitutional Court held that media reports on public matters of public figures must be given strong constitutional protection, and treated differently from reports on private matters of private figures. In accordance with the decision, the Supreme Court has expanded the scope of constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression since 2002. This study analyzes the issue of media liability for publication of illegally intercepted wire communication by a third person. Particularly, it reviews Seoul High Court's ruling on 'X-file scandal' which disclosed intercepted wire communications between notable public figures regarding a slush fund for a presidential candidate. In the light of this analysis, the study concludes that the media reporting of the intercepted communication does not violate social norms of Article 20, and therefore it is entitled to a constitutional privilege.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.32
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• pp.333-367
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• 2006

This paper attempted to examine to what extent advertising as expression has been constitutionally protected through an analysis on the reputational-right-related legal cases. In order to make the understanding more clearly, this paper applied Van Alstyne's graphical depiction on how commercial speech is protected compared with other constitutional rights such as political speech, private expression, defamation, and obscene expression. Through the analysis, this paper found out that first, in the legal cases, there has been no consideration on whether the status of the plaintiff is public figure or private figure, whereas in the libel cases, Korean courts has made a distinction between public figure and private figure since 2002; second, when the case is concerned with corporations, the Korean courts do not give consideration on the status of corporation, while the status of corporation is a somewhat important factor in deciding the degree of responsibility in the U.S.; third, even though it is clear that advertising in Korea is being protected as expression, it is nebulous whether it is well balanced with other personal rights that are constitutionally protected. Conclusively, applying the Alstyne's graphical depiction on Korean advertising, it advertising as expression in Korea is being provided lower protection than defamation. To put it differently, like the case in the U.S., advertising, although it is allegedly protected as expression, does not yet enjoy full-fledged constitutional protection in Korean society. Rather, there must be some actions to be taken to enhance the degree of protection of advertising.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.41
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• pp.108-144
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• 2008

This study examines how the watchdog concert in journalism field has been created and develope4 Related studies found that the watchdog is related not so muck with free press theory as with a privilege awarded to the press because the press serves for the public interests. It was found that in the U.S., the watchdog concept was derived from the a lot of libel cases in the late 1890s. At the time, the newspaper owners and editors continuously claimed the very protection over vulnerability of newspaper's collecting, reporting, and printing news. While, in Korea, the concept of watchdog emerged in the late 1990s after the establishment of the Constitution Court. Even though the watchdog concert was accepted very late by the Korean courts, it is believed to be a kind of special privilege to prevent the press from being recklessly regulated in libel cases. Rather, the Korean courts expand the extent of the role of the press as a watchdog by deciding that not only the public officials and politicians but also other socially influential public figures could be included in the criticism from the press. However, how these court decisions can be practically implemented depends upon how the court apply the probability of the press to believe the news true and intention of malice in writing and publishing the stories.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.81
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• pp.189-224
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• 2017

The case of 'Paik Jong-moon's Taped Conversation,' has presented "an important and serious challenge to the freedom of the press and democracy" in South Korea. Nevertheless, this case has not been reported by the mainstream news media. It has also been forgotten without a proper fact-finding or investigation by regulatory agencies, like The Foundation for Broadcast Culture, The Korea Communications Commission, or The National Assembly. This study aims to examine why the above has happened through in-depth interviews of reporters and TV producers, senior journalists, former and incumbent commissioners of the broadcasting regulatory agencies, and experts of the industry, as well as literature research. Here, I present three answers. First, I found two reasons the mainstream press has ignored this incident. 1) It serves for political interests instead of reporting truth. 2) Public broadcasters' watchdog role has been neutralized. Second, regulatory agencies like The Foundation for Broadcast Culture, The Korea Communications Commission and The National Assembly are ruled by political tribalism. The ruling party's members of the National Assembly and these agencies were reluctant to investigate allegations surrounding Paik Jong-moon, such as illegal dismissals, illegal intervention in programming or production, illegal recruitment and illegal business deals. That's because they considered CEO Paik an ally. Using their majority power, they have rejected the request from opposition-affiliated commissioners or from opposition lawmakers to investigate the allegations. Third, there were no alternative forces within the public broadcasters to unveil the truth. In conclusion, the legal and institutional shake-up of corporate governance is urgently needed for public broadcasters and broadcasting regulatory agencies.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.35
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• pp.36-86
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• 2006

The industrialization and globalization in the field of broadcasting are rapidly proceeded by extension of multilateral agreement as GATT and WTO, and by expansion of bilateral FTA. The broadcasting gets important in the industries according to the change of broadcasting environment grounded on industrial logic. As the broadcasting products become an important article of trade, broadcasting industry is the best bet in the cultural industries. In the international trade, the USA and Japan will treat cultural products the same as common goods and keep in the frame of free trade. On the contrary, the EU nations and Canada take a position that the cultural products are common goods and also public goods at the same time, and that therefore the cultural products will be excepted from the free trade. But this so called cultural exception, which is formed in the multilateral free trade agreement, is merely a temporal countermeasure, not a fundamental alternative especially in the present circumstances of DDA negotiation of WTO and of enlargement of FTA by the USA. So a nation shall carry out policies for cultural identity and cultural autonomy by the guarantee of Cultural Diversity Agreement of UNESCO, and organize a new cultural exchange order which substitutes the trade order by trade agreements.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.39
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• pp.385-427
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• 2007

This study examined the primary tones of news stories and the overall frames which are structuralized by the primary tones in the news reporting of the Private School Law and social conflicts occurring around the law. For this purpose, the study applied Lakoff and Johnson's metaphoric conceptualization to the analysis of the news stories reported in the Chosun Ilbo, the Hankyoreh, and the Kookmin Ilbo, which are considered to represent the audience of the conservative, progressive, and religious forces, respectively. The main goal of this study includes to describe in which manner the newspapers attempt to depict the frames of major social conflicts regarding the Private School Law. The results show that (1) the Chosun Ilbo and the Kookmin Ilbo attempt to structuralize the social conflicts by providing frames of 'freedom is an asset' and a 'war' metaphors; (2) the Kookmin Ilbo applied more frames of a religious metaphor among others; and (3) the Hankyoreh attempts to structuralize the social conflicts by offering frames of 'the front is good, but the rear is bad' and 'war' metaphors, which proves to be the opposite in presenting the overall framing.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.177-183
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• 2012

There occur various crimes in cyber space hiding behind anonymity to avoid punishment by criminal law. One of the most serious crimes committed in cyber space is defamation against others under the cloak of freedom of expression. The infringements by defamations in cyber space are made all of a certain and widespread that the victims have no time to react, and for that reason, the shocks by the defamation are much serious and severe compared with that committed in off line. However, press and publication shouldn't infringe on other's honors, right, public order or social ethics in liberal democrat society which values much the human dignities and values as stipulated in Article 21 section 4 of the Constitution. Protection of personal honor is also the basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution as much as the freedom of expression, and by extension, such harmful behaviour shouldn't be included in the freedom of expression area. In this way, slander can be considered as the minimum limitation of the freedom of expression.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.55
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• pp.5-32
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• 2011

This paper is a comparative analysis of constitutional decisions in which the Korea Consitutional Court and the United States Supreme Court applied the void for vagueness doctrine into free expression issues. Common aspects are: both courts applied the void for vagueness doctrine on the grounds that vague laws bring chilling effect on freedom of expression. Acknowledging inevitable uncertainties in lawmaking and legal jargons, however, both courts required minimum standards in the void for vagueness doctrine. In the cases where unclear legal meanings resulted in constitutional challenges, both courts adopted the "narrowing construction" by the courts or judges based on average/ordinary person's understanding. The biggest differences between the two constitutional courts are their approach to the degrees of vagueness allowed in free expression cases. The U.S. Supreme Court underscored the necessity of narrowly drawn, reasonable and definite standards. Meanwhile, the Korea Constitutional Court relaxed its standards in some cases such as the National Security Law cases, even though it admitted the possibility of curtailing the right to free expression. The Court reasoned that those laws, though vague, brought with bigger social interests and are necessary tools in dealing with changing world.