President bans MBC from Air Force One

Politics

Published: 10 Nov. 2022, 18:21 Updated: 10 Nov. 2022, 18:21

President bans MBC from Air Force One

A group of journalist associations hold a press conference near the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, Thursday, calling for the presidential office to withdraw its decision to bar broadcaster MBC from traveling on the presidential jet. [YONHAP]

Journalists from public broadcaster MBC are barred by the presidential office from accompanying President Yoon Suk-yeol on Air Force One when he makes a six-day trip to Cambodia and Indonesia starting Friday.

On Wednesday, Yoon's office notified MBC, or Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, one of Korea's three major terrestrial television broadcasters, that its reporters will not be welcome on the presidential jet because of its "distorted and biased" coverage.

Yoon is traveling to Cambodia and Indonesia for a series of Asean meetings and a G20 summit, his third overseas trip since taking office in May.

"The boarding of the presidential jet has been a service provided for convenience in the coverage of diplomatic and security issues," the presidential office said in its notice to the broadcaster, "and taking into consideration MBC's recent repeated distorted and biased coverage of diplomatic issues, we have decided not to provide this service."

When asked by reporters at the Yongsan presidential office about the decision Thursday, Yoon said the decision was a matter of "national interest."

"A lot of taxpayers' money is spent on the president's overseas tours because important national interests are at stake," said Yoon. "We've been providing a service to help with coverage of diplomatic and security issues."

Media traveling with the president pay their own airfares and lodging costs.

MBC issued a statement protesting the move as a "suppression of media."

"Barring a specific media from boarding the presidential plane is unprecedented even in the era of military dictatorship," said MBC in a statement Wednesday. The company said its reporters will still cover the Southeast Asia trip by traveling commercial.

In September, Yoon was caught in a video first released by MBC saying an expletive in private remarks to his aides at a fundraising event hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Some parts of Yoon's remark in the clip were drowned out by loud music and background noise.

At the time, the presidential office accused MBC of using wrong subtitles for Yoon's remarks to make it appear that he was referring to Biden and the U.S. Congress. The presidential office said that Yoon's remarks had been directed at Korea's parliament.

The hot mic moment became a controversy which overshadowed the rest of Yoon's three-country trip, which took him also to Britain and Canada.

On Thursday, the presidential press corps covering the presidential office took collective action to protest the barring of MBC from Air Force One and ask for the decision to be reconsidered.

"At a time when the president's overseas trip is imminent, we express our deep regret that the presidential office caused great confusion to the entire press corps by unilaterally excluding a certain media outlet from boarding the presidential jet without any prior consultation," the press corps said in a joint statement.

"The reason journalists travel with the president on the presidential jet is for the people's right to know," continued the statement. "Related expenses are fully borne by each media company."

The press corps said it "cannot agree with the presidential office's approach of providing services for media coverage as if giving preferential treatment."

It demanded "the prompt withdrawal of this decision."

Political parties weighed in.

Democratic Party (DP) lawmakers on the parliamentary Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee held a press conference at the National Assembly Thursday condemning the move, saying it "runs counter to the people's right to know."

Lawmakers for the People Power Party (PPP) criticized MBC for "causing chaos to the people" with allegedly distorted reporting, which nearly "damaged" the Korea-U.S. alliance.

"Journalists should also have a sense of responsibility," PPP interim chief Chung Jin-suk told reporters Thursday. "Failure to fulfill their responsibilities may harm other media outlets and the public."

A presidential official claimed that the measure was taken as a step to manage "fake news," not as a result of "critical reporting" of the president or his office.

"We have raised the issue of MBC's fake news many times," a senior presidential official told reporters Thursday.

He added that "MBC did not take any corrective action even though it had nearly two months to fact-check" its reporting.

"This measure was not taken over criticism of the presidential office," said the official. "It's not a measure as in previous governments restricting coverage, suspending reporters' access or shutting down a press room, but a decision based on the judgment of whether it is right to provide media coverage services while spending a large amount of taxpayers' money."

A group of journalist associations held a press conference Thursday in front of the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, condemning the move as "a serious infringement of the freedom of the press."

The Journalists Association of Korea, National Union of Media Workers, the Korea Broadcasting Journalist Association and other groups said in a joint statement that the MBC ban could be seen as a "retaliatory measure" for the hot mic incident in September.

They demanded that the restriction on MBC be immediately withdrawn.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]