[Editorial] Former MBC Executives Who "Served" for the Park Geun-hye Government as Directors of the Foundation for Broadcasting Culture?

On August 10, the Korea Communications Commission announced a list of nine directors to lead the Foundation for Broadcast Culture, a major shareholder of MBC, for the next three years. This position comes with immense power, for the director has the authority to select the president of MBC, a public broadcasting company. The National Union of Media Workers and civic groups immediately protested the latest announcement, because it included Choi Gi-hwa, former director of planning and Kim Do-in, former director of programming and production at MBC. The two men were responsible for biased media coverage and unfair labor practices when serving in important positions at MBC during the Park Geun-hye government.

Choi Ki-hwa led the broadcasting companies biased and distorted reports when he was the director of the newsroom. He is also currently on trial for unfair labor practices. He tore up a report by the Committee for the Practice of Democratic Broadcasting at MBC, which pointed out violations of fair press coverage, and blocked executive members of the committee from entering the newsroom. Kim Do-in, who served as the director of programming and production during the Park Geun-hye government, also distorted broadcasting by faithfully implementing the details in a document on taking over MBC written by the National Intelligence Service in connection to the MBC labor union. He is also the person who led efforts to oust "blacklisted" public figures, such as Kim Mi-hwa and Yoon Do-hyun. Last year the National Union of Media Workers described Choi and Kim as men who "served (the government) to take over the press" and included them among the "irregularities that should be eradicated." Last month, Civic Action for Broadcasting Independence, a union of civic groups, even selected Choi and Kim among those ineligible for director of the foundation. Not only are they unqualified, but they are former executives who should be ousted from broadcasting. Yet the commission has placed them once again in key positions in broadcasting. Frustration is all we can express, especially when considering that this is the first appointment of the foundation's directors since operations were restored at MBC following the candlelight demonstrations.

Article 6 Section 4 of the Foundation for Broadcast Culture Act stipulates, "The Korea Communications Commission appoints the director of the Foundation for Broadcast Culture after considering the candidate's expertise in broadcasting and the representation of various social fields." The commission announced that it followed the criteria set by law and listened to the opinions of the people when appointing the new directors. However, the commission failed to break away from old practices of sharing the pie among factions and reviewing the candidates behind closed doors. Among the new directors, six were recommended by the government and ruling party and three were recommended by the opposition party. Allegations have even been raised that Kim Sung-tae, floor leader of the Liberty Korea Party exerted pressure on the current members of the Korea Communications Commission to appoint Choi Gi-hwa and Kim Do-in as directors of the foundation.

The commission will soon begin the process of appointing the directors of KBS and EBS. If things remain as they are, it is very likely for us to witness a list similar to the directors of the Foundation for Broadcast Culture. The board of directors of a public broadcasting company should not become a pie to be shared among political factions. The Korea Communications Commission should include representatives of various social classes and preferences in the board of public broadcasting companies. For this to happen, political independence is essential. The first step toward political independence is to withdraw the latest appointment of the two men, cited as "media workers serving the government" and launch a fresh process to appoint new directors.

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