SBS Exaggerated the Facts Aiming at Ratings

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SBS Exaggerated the Facts Aiming at Ratings

A majority of TV viewers thought that Seoul Broadcasting System's (SBS) 'News Chase' coverage about entertainers' prostitution failed to capture the truth and only increased questions about the facts.

The program about entertainers' prostitution had fascinated TV viewers before it was broadcast. There are still "people said that..." rumors from the program on the Internet but extraordinary curiosity over this subject was understandable.

However most of the reaction to this story was that most of the program was just at the level of rumor. One viewer (crane67), who sent his opinion to SBS's board, blamed SBS's tabloid centered programing by saying that he did not know why this should have been given air time. Another viewer (blue80k) pointed out that the program did not have conclusive evidence and said with conviction that the show was nothing but a trick.

The program was simply the story of two women, who introduced themselves as actresses, revealing their story that some people claiming they where looking for entertainers held interview but were looking only for sex. In reality this was not really their story so they lacked reliability. Moreover the entertainment scouts' identity was not clear.

Thus SBS's lack of responsibility in the show was large due to the facts that the events in the program was exaggerated and finished on an unsatisfactory note.

Some public opinion was that the program was easy to be viewed as 'tabloid journalism' aiming only at program ratings. Kang Man-seok, a researcher at Korean Broadcasting Institute, said that when SBS had finished editing the program, they should have researched public opinion before broadcasting the show. He added this would have been the correct journalistic attitude. Lee Nam-ki, vice president for new and current affairs at SBS, dodges this critisism by saying that it was just porno actors' and actress' stories.

The broadcasting entertainers' union's complaints prior to the airing seemed to reveal their feelings that they were insulted by the broadcasting company, and the union acted too quickly without confirming the facts.








by Cheong Jae-wal

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