(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on March 5) - Dealing With Media

Home or Abroad, Basics of Communication Are the Same
``Overseas media outlets have just resumed their air strikes on Korea," screamed
a local paper headline. ``The government should actively cope with foreigners'
Korea bashing," pressed another.
It seems as if some foreign dailies and research organs had set about to make
already bad economic situations here worse. Are these foreign media seeking some
windfall benefits by exaggerating a specific country's crisis in a conspiracy
with their investors? Hardly.
A government official said these overseas papers and analysts often use incorrect
statistics based on a most improbable assumption.
Why bother, then?
By most appearances, all this is just another bout of xenophobic popular
responses to a situation caused by poor communication skills of the government.
Some British media recently called Korea a country with one of the most serious
foreign debt and banking problems in the world. Except for some misuse of
terminology, the fact itself could hardly be disputed, for no media company in
its right mind could hope to distort, much less fabricate, statistics.
Interpretation of facts or figures, good or bad, is also up to the writers or
their companies. The Korean government and media should understand these foreign
media are financial papers that put the interests of investors ??? i.e.,
advertisers ??? ahead of regulators, domestic or foreign, just like their Korean
counterparts.
All Seoul can ??? and should ??? do is ignore false reports, as chances are high
that the market or investors might know better than bureaucrats or journalists
when reports are erroneous, intentional or not. If the adverse effects of
incorrect articles are deemed too serious, the government ought to sue.
Belated, emotional and amateurish retorts ??? such as trying to claim Korea's
external liability problems are not worst but second worst in Asia, for instance
??? would only deepen suspicion, as if Seoul were concealing it until someone
pointed it out abroad.
A better approach is to make the nation's economy, along with its strength and
weakness, known as it is, through constant contact with media people, local or
foreign, and not only during a crisis like now but in ``ordinary" times. Korean
officials' handling of foreign journalists always seems to waver between the two
extremes: They ignore ??? or avoid ??? cooperating with journalists' requests for
coverage while showing excessive, nearly blind, acceptance of their stories. This
is neither right nor normal.
Officials say they would reinstate press officers exclusively for foreign media,
a system that has long been gone since the nation escaped the Asian financial
crisis. They may be necessary at least in two key ministries, each responsible
for security and economic affairs. The reintroduced ``foreign media spokesperson"
should be more experienced in the mechanism of media than in English, as more
than 90 percent of foreign correspondents operating in Seoul are Koreans or
foreigners who can understand the Korean language.
The Lee Myung-bak administration is notorious for its lack of communication with
the people and media, favoring only friendly papers. As long as the government
fails to rectify its wrong media policy, bad press abroad is unlikely to
diminish, as the first function of media is to point out shadiness and problems.

(END)