Cable new channel YTN given conditional reapproval

(ATTN: MODIFIES para 8 with correction)
SEOUL, Feb. 24 (Yonhap) -- The government on Tuesday renewed the broadcast
license of cable network YTN, under the condition that the 24-hour news channel
pledges to remain objective and politically neutral.
All South Korean television networks must have their right to broadcast news and
other contents reapproved by the state-run Korea Communications Commission (KCC)
every three years.
The commission was scheduled to vote on YTN's reapproval earlier this month, but
delayed the process due to an ongoing labor-management struggle triggered after
President Lee Myung-bak named a confidant to head the news channel last summer.
YTN's incumbent approval expires as of March 12.
The five-member-panel of KCC said it will grant reapproval to YTN if the
broadcaster submits a plan to guarantee neutrality and objectivity in its news
coverage by March 24, along with a pledge to faithfully implement such
conditions.
"The process is critical for the protection of viewer rights," said Choi
See-joong, chairman of the KCC. "Reflecting concerns about the actual
implementation of the reapproval conditions, we must observe the broadcaster with
watchful eyes."
YTN unionists have been escalating tension with their new chief Koo Bong-hong,
whom they call the "president's puppet," launching a months-long sit-in and
blockading him from his office.
Media workers accuse President Lee of filling top broadcasting positions with
those favorable to his conservative government as initial steps in his ultimate
plan to gag broadcasters critical of his policies and privatize state-run
television channels.
YTN management last month filed lawsuits against dozens of unionists for the
office blockade against Koo, which was partially accepted by a Seoul court. The
court ordered the union to halt the blockade or pay a 10 million won (US$6,600)
fine.
Disputes and rallies have continued since Koo's appointment in July last year. In
October, the company disciplined 33 unionists, firing six among them.
President Lee, a former CEO and strong believer in market principles, has been
seeking to amend the country's decades-old media laws since his inauguration to
spur competition between media outlets and bolster the sectors he believes are
falling behind in global trends.
The core of the plan is to allow cross-ownership of television networks and
newspapers which dissenters call "pro-conglomerate" because only three
right-leaning vernacular newspapers are said to have enough resources to enter
the television industry. The three newspapers already control nearly 70 percent
of print media circulation and are largely favorable of Lee's policies.
The current law, established in the 1980s, prohibits cross-ownership of print
media and television stations to prevent monopoly in the media industry.
hayney@yna.co.kr
(END)