• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.33
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• pp.227-251
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• 2006

The Law Ensuring the Freedom and the Functions of Liability of the Newspapers ("The Newspaper Law") which was passed in the National Assembly on January 1, 2005 is considered as a tremendous setback compared to "the Newspaper Bill" of civil press organizations. Of the two instruments to ensure the editorial freedom, the regulation on the newspaper company ownership share distribution was eliminated and the editorial committee (editorial codes of ethics) became an arbitrary system. That is, the Newspaper Law was criticized as a law of "half-success." However, the Newspaper Law has its own benefit by institutionalizing the establishment of the Korea Commission for the Press, the Press Fund, and the Korea Newspaper Circulation Service for Promoting Newspaper Businesses and by strengthening the criteria to estimate market dominant businesspeople in newspaper market than general markets to ensure the diversity of public opinions. As the Newspaper Law was promulgated, Donga-Ilbo and Chosun-Ilbo submitted the Constitutional Petition against "the Newspaper Law" and the Constitutional Court is expected to give the decision soon. Based on the "Supplements on the Grounds of the Constitutional Petition against the Newspaper Law" ("the Petition"), this paper will examine the main issues of the debates over the Constitutionality of the Newspaper Law.