SBS apologizes after biased portrayal of Fifty Fifty dispute

A captured image of a scene from a recent episode of SBS's investigative expose show ″Unanswered Questions″ that aired on Aug. 19 [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Broadcaster SBS apologized after a biased portrayal of the ongoing legal battle between girl group Fifty Fifty and its agency Attrakt, promising a follow-up report based on further investigation.

SBS came under fire for showing more of the girl group's side over the agency's in a recent episode of its investigative exposé show "Unanswered Questions" Saturday, leading the company to take down any related videos from its YouTube channel three days later due to viewers' criticism.

"We apologize for offending many K-pop insiders and fans. This wasn't the intention of our production crew," SBS said in a press release.

"We would like to state that the program was not meant to take any party's side. We will make up for our shortcomings with a follow-up program after we dig deeper into the matter."

The episode explained the back-and-forth between Fifty Fifty, Attrakt CEO Oscar Jun and Ahn Sung-il, the CEO of production company The Givers who has been accused of taking the copyright of the girl group's song without informing the agency.

The program didn't reveal any new information that would change the consensus of the general public, which had overall been tending to side with Jun and Attrakt and not with the newly-debuted quartet demanding freedom from its agency. Instead, it showed interview clips of The Givers employees, Fifty Fifty members and their families.

The Korea Entertainment Producer's Association and the Korea Management Federation demanded an apology from the producers and a correction report in official statements released Tuesday.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]