S.Korean ruling Party puts first media reforms on paper

The governing Uri Party has been putting its much-discussed media reform measures on paper, with the expectation of passing them into law during this legislative term. The party now controls the National Assembly.

The party said yesterday that it had tentatively agreed on three major reforms: enacting a new newspaper law, preparing a bill to assist persons who are damaged by inaccurate media reporting and amending the current broadcasting law.

Press reform has been a hotly debated issue inside the party, which along with President Roh Moo-hyun has been sometimes harshly critical of what it considers a conservative bias in the print media.

Kim Jae-hong, a Uri legislator, said, "Many people believe that the Uri Party is only promoting newspaper reform. But that is not true. Our media reform measures would include not only newspapers but also broadcasting and the Internet."

When asked for details of other reforms, Mr. Kim replied, "Currently, we are discussing reforming the appointment process for senior officials at the Korean Broadcasting Commission and at broadcasting networks. We are also discussing measures to ensure fairness in the budgeting of the Korea Broadcasting System."

But he conceded that the priority will be put on reforming newspapers.

"As the media environment surrounding newspapers has changed, just amending the existing newspaper law will not suffice," said Lee Kyung-sook, another party lawmaker.

Source: Agencies