The Lee Myung-bak government’s effort to remove the Roh Moo-hyun era appointees that aided in the US beef nonsense has now centered on the government’s news organ KBS:
President Lee Myung-bak has discharged Korean Broadcasting System President Jung Yun-joo.
Presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan announced at a Monday briefing that the president accepted and signed the KBS Board of Governors’ proposal to dismiss Jung. He expressed hope that KBS will remedy what he called poor management and reestablish itself as a public broadcaster.
The KBS board will hold a meeting Wednesday to discuss the appointment of a successor.
But opposition political parties are protesting strongly, threatening an impeachment motion. [KBS Global]
I say bring on the impeachment motion and lets let the facts be aired out about the US beef nonsense for everyone to see and expose the leftist forces behind the violent protests. Additionally the opposition political parties as One Free Korea points out are extremely hypocritical considering Roh Moo-hyun’s attempts to crush the conservative media in Korea during his time in office. Make sure to read OFK’s entire piece because he crushes in creditability the Korean left has in regards to freedom of the press.
Hopefully the next thing the Lee government will focus on is the government subsidies given to leftist news outlets that also helped fan the false US beef story such as Oh My News and the Hankyoreh. It is outrageous that such news outlets that bring readers such incredibly bad journalism such as this, get millions of dollars in government money.
Popularity: 2%
4:54 pm on August 12th, 2008 1
All of this hoopla with KBS and MBC are in fact Lee’s attempt to regain control of the media.
Is he trying to control the press? YES.
Is he trying to oust the progressives who were put in place by Roh? YES.
Is he some sort of dictator seeking to try to control the minds and souls of the masses as the progressives paint him? NOT NECESSARILY.
Cutting through all the crud. Jung Yun-joo was the head editorial writer for Hankyoreh News who masterminded the scheme of distortions, innuendoes and
outright lies against the GNP candidate, Lee Hoi-chang. He was rewarded with the post to KBS — and Hankyoreh, “a publicly-owned” newspaper — was rewarded with government subsidies/grants by the Roh administration along with OhMy News on the internet.
What the progressives now accuse Lee Myeong-bak of is only the mirror image of themselves over the past decade.
Back to the Jung Yun-joo hoopla, supposedly in 2006, 80 percent of the KBS employees opposed his reappointment and tried to block his entrance to the building. Then in 2008 when Lee Myeong-bak sets up his ouster using the BAI — because he refused to resign — suddenly all the KBS employees are on his side (or so it seems). Why? What’s going on?
Cutting through all the bull, the KBS employees don’t give a damn about Jung. They are afraid for their jobs. If Jung stays, their jobs are safe as he bypassed the seniority system and pushed employment of progressive new hires — despite KBS losing money. If Lee brings in a new KBS President, the new guy will be coming in with an axe to grind. Let’s face it Lee Myeong-bak wants the fat trimmed in public-funded corporations. He is sharpening the pruning shears now.
For the media, the first step is to get control of the Korean Broadcasting Commission — DONE! Next get his people into the leadership positions of the publicly funded media — MBC, DONE and KBS, about DONE. Then they start the tightening of the screws through policy changes. (Yonhap News was brought into line very early. It is the official news agency for the ROK government — and if it didn’t reflect Lee Myeong-bak’s view, it could just as easily find itself as just another news service.)
But this fear of losing one’s job is not only KBS. There are over 250,000 public corporation jobs at risk with the privatization plans in the future. This is why Lee is getting so much resistance over his privatization plans.
But back again to the media focus. What is really at the bottom of all this furor over press media freedom? The truth is Korean journalists do NOT have an enforceable code of ethics. Back in 1986 in the early days of the democratization process, the journalists got together and came up with a code of ethics for journalism. It stated:
“The social mission of Korean journalists is extremely important, all the more so because the nation is confronted with the task of reconstructing the homeland into a democratic, unified, independent country. Thoroughly aware of this, Korean journalists have organised the Korean Newspaper Editors Association chiefly among the editors of daily newspapers and news agencies across the country and have adopted the Press Ethics Code in order to rectify press ethics and firmly uphold their journalistic integrity. Journalists have pledged themselves to be faithfully to the Code and to fulfil the people’s expectation of good journalism. Not only editors but all engaged with the press shall abide by this Code.”
Let’s jump forward from 1986 to 2003 and use Jung’s example as what this Code really means when he used outright lies, deception and innuendoes in Roh’s run for the Presidency. The Code means squat to progressives in the media.
The key phrases were: “Since this Code calls for voluntary implementation, there is no authoritative organisation which enforces it. However, if newspapers and journalists are unfaithful to the Code, they will surely lose public support and thereby endanger their very survival.”
Well, not if you have a progressive view that the Korean public are mindless cattle that can be molded and persuaded to believe anything because they “saw it in the newspapers” — or more recently “saw it on the internet.”
A DP legislator (old Uri Party pol) said during the past anti-US beef protests basically said, “Perception is just as important as reality.” In other words, if you can get the people to “perceive” things one way — regardless of the facts — it will be accepted as “truth” (reality). It was a profound statement — and true when dealing with dealing Koreans. Look at the 2002 anti-Americanism hate fest and the latest anti-US beef insanity.
This lack of ethics in the Korean press is most evident in the progressive newspapers, but also in conservative ones as well. The problem comes when the newspapers opt for yellow journalism in order to increase readership and pump up circulation numbers. Ethical journalism goes out the window.
Why hasn’t the Korean public risen up to demand ethical journalism? I believe that if the public rises up and demands journalist changes, it also admits publicly that they have been mindless sheep deluded by the press and exposed as ignorant beings manipulated by their handlers. Not a pretty admission.
But I do feel that many Koreans feel the same as I do about the newspapers, but would never articulate what I have said so bluntly. But think about it. What can the Korean public really do about the media which they have no control? Like in the US, can anyone in the public figure out a way to control the media that so many conservatives blame for misleading articles and slanted views?
Well, the first step is an enforcable Code of Ethics. In the US, it exists and we have witnessed many journalists’ careers ended when they stepped over the line. The problem in Korea is that there is no line. The media is free to write whatever they please. Lee Myeong-bak is attacking the internet for its “Infodemics” (misinformation), but he’s going after teeny-boppers. I don’t believe the Lee is so stupid to even try to take on the journalists — who will band together and make the next four years of his term a living hell.
Why hasn’t there been a push to make the ethical standards enforcable with punishment for unethical journalism? There has been but it has always been resisted by the journalist establishment — both conservative and progressive. In the mid-1990s, there was a push to get some enforceable ethical provisions after scandal after scandal of journalists only showing up at exhibits/news events/etc. that provided “gifts” or “expense money.”
What happened? Ask the journalists and editors as they still have no enforceable Code of Ethics that I know of. Thus the progressive news media has been allowed to print anything they choose — without fear of retribution from a panel of their peers. Go back to Jung as head editorial writer for the Hankyoreh and Roh’s 2002 campaign with its deception, innuendoes and lies. Fast forward to the last anti-US beef protests and KBS stood in the forefront with deceptions, innuendoes and lies.
If they did, there would not have been the yellow journalism and falsehoods in the progressive media. In the past anti-US beef controversy, just do a web search of articles from the progressive media and you will see how blatant lies were passed off as facts to create hysteria amongst the readership.
I remember years ago telling my students how to read the Korea Herald. Read the first sentence of the article. Skip directly to the last sentence where the truth is being hidden and buried. Then read the middle to try to understand what they are trying to hide. Yes, a stupidly cynical outlook, but I still look at Korean news the same way.
So if anyone has bright ideas of how to change the media reporting in Korea, please let me know.
10:41 pm on August 12th, 2008 2
KALANI…Your first question…NO!
I’ll explain at another time.
4:28 am on August 13th, 2008 3
I have one problem with Lee’s ouster of Jung: It doesn’t go far enough. Jung should be tried in a court of law for outright lies and distortions. The should lock him up and throw away the key.
2:08 am on August 14th, 2008 4
Though MBC is not a newspaper, it still is in the journalism business and should be subject to a Code of Ethics. As long as there is none, you will continue to hear the following claptrap.
After MBC was forced to apologize on the air, Eum Ki-young, President and former MBC News Anchor, stated that “the broadcaster would come up with strengthened guidelines to boost investigative programs’ accuracy, fairness and accountability.” (Korea Times.)
This what you will continue to get from the Korean media as long as there is no enforceable Code of Ethics. Just a load of bullcrud promises to ensure “accuracy, fairness and accountability.”
7:24 am on August 14th, 2008 5
While trying not to sound like a syncophantic supporter of Mr. Jung, I have to say that the facts and evidence marshalled to support Jung’s ouster are flimsy at best.
Consider the first piece of evidence that Jung’s detractors have marshalled as reason for his ouster: the repeated instances of KBS’s mediocre financial performance. According to critics, KBS, under Jung’s leadership, has recorded figures in the red for the past couple of years. By the estimates of auditors, from 2004-2007, KBS recorded figures in the red of 117,200,000,000 ?. On a surface level, this charge would seem to hold water. But if one were to do a careful analysis of the way in which the auditing body calculated KBS’s financial results for the fiscal years 2004-2007, the argument of Jung’s critics looses considerable thrust.
When the auditors(???) calcuted their figures, the didn’t do it according the usual standards in which public companys are usually subjected to. Instead of the “yearly net income and loss”(”?? ? ??”) rubric, the auditors used the “?? ??” (net income/loss of the company)rubric. By using the “?? ??” rubric, auditors did not consider other business activities and assets related to KBS but seperate of the corporate business itself. For if the auditors had calculated KBS’s financial performance under the usual ?? ? ?? rubric for public companies, auditors would have found that during the past five years KBS recorded figures in the black of 18,900,000,000 ?.
Moreover, it would appear that the auditors made use of the two different rubrics inconsistently. For instance, for the years prior to 2004 to 2007, auditors calculated KBS’s financial performance by the usual ?? ? ?? rubric. What’s more, when the auditors calculated figures in the black of 433? ? by the ?? ?? rubric for 2003, such a figure was excluded from their overall conclusions.
Aside from the argument that financial mismanagement should lead to Jung’s ouster, critics cite, as a legal basis, this snippet from the auditor’s law.
According to ???? 32? 9?(Inspector General’s Law, Article 32, Item 9):
“???? ??? ??? ????? ??? ??? ? ???? ?? ???????? ?? ??? ? ? ??.”
Translated: “In the event that it is recognized that a senior authority or an official has shown noticeable(????)instance(s) of malfeasence(??), then the individual or body vested with the authority to appoint or recommend appointment may make a request of resignation.”
It should be obvious to anyone who reads this statement, that at best it’s vague. For instance, by what measure do we determine “??”? Nowhere is it clearly enumerated, and opinion in the legal community is as diverse as the types of kimchi in Korea. Futhermore, if there is an instance of “??”, how is it that those responsible are to go about determining whether such “??” is “??”? Again, I’ve asked around, and there seems to be no clear cut definitions or standards in which to measure such things. Ask 100 different people, and you get 100 different answers.
On another note, Kalani makes the argument that the Korean media needs an enforceable Code of Ethics. That if such a Code of Ethics exists in Korea, like in the US, then it would go a long way in fixing the bad habits and practices of the Korean media.
Hate to break the news here but the type “Code of Ethics” that Kalani seems to think exists in the US-the type epitomized in some sort of legal, authoritative body-doesn’t exist. The only thing that I could find that comes close to falling along the lines of what Kalani speaks of is the one put out by the Society of Professional Journalist.
You can read the specifics of the code at http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp.
After reading that, I would draw Kalani’s attention to this statement at the very, very bottom of the page:
“The SPJ Code of Ethics is VOLUNTARILY embraced by thousands of
writers, editors and other news professionals. The present version of
the code was adopted by the 1996 SPJ National Convention, after months
of study and debate among the Society’s members.”
So there you have it, the Korean press’ code of ethics operate very much along the lines of the American’s: voluntarily and piecemeal. When a reporter makes an egregious mistake or acts with ill intent, firings and resignations are not handled trans-corporate body, but by the each indivdual news outlet according to their own personal situations and standards.
Finally, on a personal note, I found that what LMB is doing here to be equally obscene as what presidents Roh, Kim Dae-Jung, and Kim Young-Sam did during their years in office vis-a-vis the press. While I find Mr. Jung to be an oleaginous and turpid figure, I’m deeply concerned that his ouster is only adding to the bad cycle of South Korean presidents trying to stifle their critics.
7:42 am on August 14th, 2008 6
Sorry, but it seems that when I posted my comments, the Korean text wasn’t able to uploaded. So I’m re-posting my comments with English translation only and without the Korean text. Again, sorry to the site monitors.
While trying not to sound like a syncophantic supporter of Mr. Jung, I have to say that the facts and evidence marshalled to support Jung’s ouster are flimsy at best.
Consider the first piece of evidence that Jung’s detractors have marshalled as reason for his ouster: the repeated instances of KBS’s mediocre financial performance. According to critics, KBS, under Jung’s leadership, has recorded figures in the red for the past couple of years. By the estimates of auditors, from 2004-2007, KBS recorded figures in the red of 117,200,000,000 Won. On a surface level, this charge would seem to hold water. But if one were to do a careful analysis of the way in which the auditing body calculated KBS’s financial results for the fiscal years 2004-2007, the argument of Jung’s critics looses considerable thrust.
When the auditors calcuted their figures, the didn’t do it according the usual standards in which public companys are usually subjected to. Instead of the “yearly net income and loss” rubric, the auditors used the “net income/loss of the company” rubric. By using the “net income/loss of the company” rubric, auditors did not consider other business activities and assets related to KBS but seperate of the corporate business itself. For if the auditors had calculated KBS’s financial performance under the usual “yearly net income/loss” rubric for public companies, auditors would have found that during the past five years KBS recorded figures in the black of 18,900,000,000 Won.
Moreover, it would appear that the auditors made use of the two different rubrics inconsistently. For instance, for the years prior to 2004 to 2007, auditors calculated KBS’s financial performance by the usual “yearly net income/loss” rubric. What’s more, when the auditors calculated figures in the black of 43,300,000,000 Won by the “net income/loss of the company” rubric for 2003, such a figure was excluded from their overall conclusions.
Aside from the argument that financial mismanagement should lead to Jung’s ouster, critics cite, as a legal basis, this snippet from the auditor’s law.
According to the Inspector General’s Law, Article 32, Item 9:
“In the event that it is recognized that a senior authority or an official has shown noticeable instance(s) of malfeasence, then the individual or body vested with the authority to appoint or recommend appointment may make a request of resignation.”
It should be obvious to anyone who reads this statement, that at best it’s vague. For instance, by what measure do we determine “malfeasence”? Nowhere is it clearly enumerated, and opinion in the legal community is as diverse as the types of kimchi in Korea. Futhermore, if there is an instance of “malfeasence”, how is it that those responsible are to go about determining whether such “malfeasence” is “noticeable”? Again, I’ve asked around, and there seems to be no clear cut definitions or standards in which to measure such things. Ask 100 different people, and you get 100 different answers.
On another note, Kalani makes the argument that the Korean media needs an enforceable Code of Ethics. That if such a Code of Ethics exists in Korea, like in the US, then it would go a long way in fixing the bad habits and practices of the Korean media.
Hate to break the news here but the type “Code of Ethics” that Kalani seems to think exists in the US-the type epitomized in some sort of legal, authoritative body-doesn’t exist. The only thing that I could find that comes close to falling along the lines of what Kalani speaks of is the one put out by the Society of Professional Journalist.
You can read the specifics of the code at:
http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp.
After reading that, I would draw Kalani’s attention to this statement at the very, very bottom of the page:
“The SPJ Code of Ethics is VOLUNTARILY embraced by thousands of writers, editors and other news professionals. The present version of the code was adopted by the 1996 SPJ National Convention, after months of study and debate among the Society’s members.”
So there you have it, the Korean press’ code of ethics operate very much along the lines of the American’s: voluntarily and piecemeal. When a reporter makes an egregious mistake or acts with ill intent, firings and resignations are not handled trans-corporate body, but by the each indivdual news outlet according to their own personal situations and standards.
Finally, on a personal note, I found that what LMB is doing here to be equally obscene as what presidents Roh, Kim Dae-Jung, and Kim Young-Sam did during their years in office vis-a-vis the press. While I find Mr. Jung to be an oleaginous and turpid figure, I’m deeply concerned that his ouster is only adding to the bad cycle of South Korean presidents trying to stifle their critics.
1:44 pm on August 14th, 2008 7
I’ll have to agree with Gaetano about the case against Jung being weak. Though I have a bone to pick with Jung over his past actions, the present case was simply a contrived effort to get him fired. Once out, he’ll NEVER get back in — even if exonerated of all the charges.
As to the charges, I’m not saying the case at hand is weak because of the evidence. I’m saying that he is being accused of making a wrong or bad decision and equating that to a Breach of Public Trust. This is simply ridiculous. The bottomline is that he made an executive decision — and whether it was a good or bad decision is irrelevant. They are attacking him for his doing his job. That is why he was put into that position.
Firing him for incompetence, lack of performance, etc. could have been used, but Jung claims that KBS performance was actually making money. Who’s right I don’t know. But the claim of Breach of Trust is shaky at best. Jung refuses to answer questions after his arrest and even the prosecution has publicly admitted that they are having a difficult time building a case.
BUT the bottomline was the charges made by the BAI were used to give the 6 pro-conservative directors (holding the majority vote) the reason to recommend firing of Jung. He is now history.
Even if he is exonerated later in a trial — or even if they drop the charges and a court orders to reinstate him — do you think he’s getting his job back? Not a snowball’s chance in hell. The government will drag the case on appeals into the next millenia.
He will NEVER get the job back as long as a conservative president is in office.
I also agree with Gaetano that “his ouster is only adding to the bad cycle of South Korean presidents trying to stifle their critics.” As I said, Lee is trying to control the Press — point blank. It may not be the American way — but it is the Korean way.
But how can one change this cycle. Obviously as expat outsiders, we have no impact on the system. However, what has to change first is the system of power politics that permeates everything in government, politics and corporate business. It is a whole ball of wax.
Why is Korea still rated as one of the most corrupt countries in the world by businessmen — even after concerted government efforts to eliminate it? Why do white collar crooks and politicians go to jail and then get a “get-out-of-jail-free” card on the next holiday? Why does every President have to fire the MILITARY heads when they come into office and promote a new group of generals beholding to him? (NOTE: In the past up to Roh Tae-woo, it was to insure military loyalty for fear of a coup but that dissipated when the military pledged non-interference in elections — and kept that promise. Now it is to aid in the implementation of the President’s defense policies — which plays a a large role in the politics of Korea.) The list goes on and on.
The whole system needs to change — and unfortunately, as a realist, it is not going to happen soon. But they need to fix things one item at a time — and we as expats, don’t need to tell Korea what’s wrong. They already know — and have been printing it in the progressive and conservative media for years.
The first step really is a President with the will to take positive action to correct the ills of the system. The will to do what is correct — not what is simply politically correct. If they keep plugging away at corruption and bribery, maybe someday they’ll conquer that and move on to the next item. Maybe even regionalism will be conquered within the next century.
11:54 pm on August 14th, 2008 8
GI — will you check the trash box for my second post?
6:06 pm on August 15th, 2008 9
I apologize that I cannot post a reply to Gaetano’s comment here for unknown reasons — and I’ve tried every way I know. However, Gaetano is sadly 100 percent wrong — and ironically, it is his link to the SPJ Professional Society (Sigma Delta Chi) Code of Ethics “borrowed” from the ASNE that provides the clue to where there are Codes of Ethics for the print journalism of the newspaper editors, managing editors, etc. Maybe we can discuss this some other time.
6:09 pm on August 15th, 2008 10
Forgot to say that this is not a ROK Drop moderation problem. It seems that it must be in my writing. The fault must be something I’m writing that is triggering a SPAM filter, but I just don’t know what it is.
9:19 pm on August 15th, 2008 11
“Gaetano is sadly 100 percent wrong — and ironically, it is his link to the SPJ Professional Society (Sigma Delta Chi) Code of Ethics “borrowed” from the ASNE that provides the clue to where there are Codes of Ethics for the print journalism of the newspaper editors, managing editors, etc.”
With all due respect here Kalani, but It’s clear that you’re ignoring the important caveat that was provided at the very bottom of that link. For if you had considered it in your response to me, it would’ve jumped out at you that this code is VOLUNTARILY embraced by American media organizations.
As you state yourself in regards to the Korean press’, the “Code calls for voluntary implementation, there is no authoritative organisation which enforces it.”
Reading both the SPJ’s code and the outlines of the Korean press’ code that you provided, it’s clear that they are both VOLUNTARY and act more as GUIDELINES as to how media organizations should act.
Furthermore, you also say that due to this “enforceable” code of press ethics that exists in the US, American journalists and reporters get fired when the demonstrate malfeasence and ill intent. According to you:
“…the first step is an enforcable Code of Ethics. In the US, it exists and we have witnessed many journalists’ careers ended when they stepped over the line.”
With all apologies but you have your facts wrong Kalani. When incidents such as Jayson Blair at the NYT, Dan Rather at CBS, Stephen Glass and Scott Beauchamp at the New Republic occured, those respective organizations didn’t decide to fire or release those individuals due to the dictates of a trans-corporate body or industry wide, legally mandate set of ethical guidelines. No, they fired those individuals based on each companies individual guidelines, circumstances, and judgement calls.
Finally, Kalani, I would like to ask, in you assertions that there needs to be some sort of enforceable, industry wide, legally mandated set of ethics to clean up the Korean press, you glide over the very important detail of who or what would be overseeing all this. If such a code of ethics were to be drawn up, implemented and legally enforced who or what would be doing the enforcing?
4:56 am on August 16th, 2008 12
I hope this prints out because it again failed to post. I’m now chopping it into smaller pieces and hope it works.
———————————————————–
It is obvious that you either work in a career that has no Code of Ethics — or perhaps it is simply something regarded as superficial eyewash in your specialty. I will try to explain without getting too wordy, but my explanation will undoubtedly be very superficial.
First, Codes of Ethics are associated with PROFESSIONS. In this we mean highly trained/educated in a distinct specialty — doctors, lawyers, journalists, teachers, military, This is what distinguishes the professions from tradesmen or craftsmen. Try to remember that the term “profession” is not based on salary or complexity of the tasks — nor is it based on the difference between a “career” and a “job.”. It is the “status” assigned to the position by society. The definition of a profession is “an occupation, vocation or high-status career, usually involving prolonged academic training, formal qualifications and membership of a professional or regulatory body.” Further, “Professions are usually regulated by professional bodies that may set examinations of competence, act as a licensing authority for practitioners, and enforce adherence to an ethical code of practice.” I draw your attention to the statement “enforce adherence to an ethical code of practice.”
Second, Codes of Ethics vary from profession to profession. Each profession has its own standards of behavior that its members are expected to adhere to in order to be accepted as a member of that profession. They are the accepted standards of behavior ascribed to by the MAJORITY of the individuals in a profession or professional association. For example, the US military has its Code of Conduct while the US Congress has a different codified rules of ethical conduct for its Congressmen — but in both cases, the MAJORITY of the people in each of their professions accept the Codes for their professions.
Third, Codes of Ethics are codified as a notice to all members of the group that they are the standards that must be adhered to for members to be accepted as part of the group. Dealing with the PRINT journalism industry, the group could be the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) dealing with newspaper editors for newspapers in big cities of 100,000 or more; to a specific organization such as the Managing Directors of the Associated Press (MDAP); to specialized groups such as the Society of American Business Editors (SABE) or the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA). Sometimes the Code of Ethics is a prerequisite for the job. For example, if you are appointed as a Managing Director of the Associated Press, there is a specific Code of Ethics written in 1999 and updated in 2004. If you want to be a Managing Director at AP, you must ascribe to this Code of Ethics.
Fourth, when dealing with the terminology of “enforceable” standard in Codes of Ethics it does NOT mean punitive judgments or jail time. It deals with being ostracized from the group of professionals by a process of peer review. There is no punitive punishment applied to the violation of any of the Code of Ethics items per se, but it may end up with the expulsion of the member from the group — which in turn may mean the loss of one’s career. For example, Bill Clinton lied under oath to Congress and was “censured” by Congress, but the payback came when he was disbarred because he violated an essential requirement in the Code of Ethics that would qualify him as an officer of the court. Charles Robert Jenkins violated the military Code of Conduct when he deserted to North Korea, but he wasn’t tried for that on his return. He was tried under the UCMJ for desertion. Congressman Jay Kim was convicted of bribery, embezzlement, etc. and “censured” by the House Ethics Committee, but still allowed to retire with full benefits as a Congressman. The point of these examples is that the Code of Ethics had nothing to do with any punitive action (jail time or fines). Jay Kim was censured and the threat was a loss of the retirement benefits that would only be available if he was still considered a member of the group as a “Congressman.” In some cases, the fallout from the violation of the Code disqualifies one from a profession — Bill Clinton. In other cases, the Code of Ethics was only a “guide” and no punitive impact was felt at all — Robert Jenkins but the person remains ostracized from the group.
BUT there is ONE THING that all three examples had in common. All three individuals lost their reputations as members of the group that they represented. Jay Kim is shunned by Congressmen as a pariah — and only Koreans want to talk to him. Bill Clinton is not mentioned by lawyers in polite speech when dealing with their profession. Robert Jenkins is shunned by the military groups as a deserter and traitor — and though some may feel sympathy for him, he will NEVER be accepted as one of their own.
When I speak of peer review and “enforceable” Code of Ethics, this action by the peer groups is what I speak of. The Code of Ethics by itself is nothing but words. However, the acceptance of the group that those words stand for the codification of rules of correct behavior in their chosen professions means something. The violation of the Code of Ethics may entail expulsion from the group — which means that one’s reputation in that profession is destroyed. This is what they mean by “enforce adherence to an ethical code of practice.”
In Korea, the Code of Ethics is strictly voluntary — as such is a joke. It is worthless toilet paper. And it means that journalism in Korea in effect has carte blanche to print anything they damn well please without fear of reprissal — except being sued for libel which is a relatively recent phenomena. That is why Korea’s journalism is a joke.
5:14 am on August 16th, 2008 13
This is the third time I’m trying to post this. I’ve removed all the URL links for the sources to see if that’s the trouble.
———————————————
Gaetano: “With all due respect here Kalani, but It’s clear that you’re ignoring the important caveat that was provided at the very bottom of that link. For if you had considered it in your response to me, it would’ve jumped out at you that this code is VOLUNTARILY embraced by American media organizations.”
I understand exactly what you said and I have agreed with your statement all along — though with an important caveat. However, the bottom line is that your choice of this example is very weak — not only from a personal perspective as you claim you could not find on the internet — and your ability to read and interpret the wording of documents.
First, when you saw that this Society of Profesional Journalists (SPJ) Code of Ethics was representing “thousands of journalists” a red flag should have gone up that this was a red herring.
Second, instead of ceasing to look any further after the first instance popped up that proved your case, you should have continued to look. In fact, the clue was right under your nose in the “proof” that YOU provided. At the bottom of the SPJ Code of Ethics page there is a bit on how its Code of Ethics was “borrowed” from the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) in 1926 — which we find strange as the ASNE says it was founded in 1934. If you had followed the “hint”, you would have found the ASNE page.
Anyway, go to ANSE site at http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?id=387 and there are a group of associations listed. It lists Code of Ethics for Associated Press Managing Editors; National Press Photographers Association; and Society of American Business Editors and Writers. There are more on the page but you can look them up yourself.
If you really want to research more, there are even more out there for smaller print journalism organizations. Notice that they are written in different forms and use different terminologies but they ALL have a common thread on accepted values for their profession. All of the journalists are subscribing to a common Code of Ethiics — the key factor into making a Code of Ethics “enforceable” for the print journalism profession.
Of course, there are also those listed that are NOT good examples of Code of Ethics such as National Association of Science Writers which says its Code of Ethics are a “Guide of behavior”. It also has Gaetano’s example of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) whose Code of Ethics was “voluntarily embraced by thousands”.
If they put such words as “voluntarily enforced” or “used as a guide” into the Code of Ethics, the Code is nothing more than toilet paper. There are quite a few of these Code of Ethics out there. However, it does NOT negate the fact that there is a common thread in all of these Codes of Ethics for the print journalism profession.
5:16 am on August 16th, 2008 14
This is the fourth time I’m trying to post this. I’ve removed all the URL links for the sources to see if that’s the trouble.
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Gaetano: “With all due respect here Kalani, but It’s clear that you’re ignoring the important caveat that was provided at the very bottom of that link. For if you had considered it in your response to me, it would’ve jumped out at you that this code is VOLUNTARILY embraced by American media organizations.”
I understand exactly what you said and I have agreed with your statement all along — though with an important caveat. However, the bottom line is that your choice of this example is very weak — not only from a personal perspective as you claim you could not find on the internet — and your ability to read and interpret the wording of documents.
First, when you saw that this Society of Profesional Journalists (SPJ) Code of Ethics was representing “thousands of journalists” a red flag should have gone up that this was a red herring.
Second, instead of ceasing to look any further after the first instance popped up that proved your case, you should have continued to look. In fact, the clue was right under your nose in the “proof” that YOU provided. At the bottom of the SPJ Code of Ethics page there is a bit on how its Code of Ethics was “borrowed” from the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) in 1926 — which we find strange as the ASNE says it was founded in 1934. If you had followed the “hint”, you would have found the ASNE page.
Anyway, go to ANSE site and there are a group of associations listed. It lists Code of Ethics for the Associated Press Managing Editors; National Press Photographers Association; and Society of American Business Editors and Writers. There are more on the page but you can look them up yourself.
If you really want to research more, there are even more out there for smaller print journalism organizations. Notice that they are written in different forms and use different terminologies but they ALL have a common thread on accepted values for their profession. All of the journalists are subscribing to a common Code of Ethiics — the key factor into making a Code of Ethics “enforceable” for the print journalism profession.
Of course, there are also those listed that are NOT good examples of Code of Ethics such as National Association of Science Writers which says its Code of Ethics are a “Guide of behavior”. It also has Gaetano’s example of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) whose Code of Ethics was “voluntarily embraced by thousands”.
If they put such words as “voluntarily enforced” or “used as a guide” into the Code of Ethics, the Code is nothing more than toilet paper. There are quite a few of these Code of Ethics out there. However, it does NOT negate the fact that there is a common thread in all of these Codes of Ethics for the print journalism profession.
5:24 am on August 16th, 2008 15
Gaetano: “With all apologies but you have your facts wrong Kalani. When incidents such as Jayson Blair at the NYT, Dan Rather at CBS, Stephen Glass and Scott Beauchamp at the New Republic occured, those respective organizations didn’t decide to fire or release those individuals due to the dictates of a trans-corporate body or industry wide, legally mandate set of ethical guidelines. No, they fired those individuals based on each companies individual guidelines, circumstances, and judgement calls.”
Gaetano you have claimed on this blog about using the rules of debating and setting up the parameters. This is why I suspect you’re really NOT interested in this topic — and perhaps don’t even have a clue what we’re talking about — and only arguing for the sake of argument. This is why YOU need to understand what we are talking about and some basic knowledge before we go on.
We are talking about the Code of Ethics for PRINT Journalism (newspapers/magazines). For newspapers, there ARE MANY CODE OF ETHICS which I will show next. However, for community newspapers and internet newspapers, there is nothing. This means that a “free-lance journalist” at his kitchen table after work as a full-time dishwasher can write lies and, distortions without anyone touching him PROFESSIONALLY. Blogs also fall into this area.
Again, we are talking about the Code of Ethics for PRINT journalism … and NOT the BROADCAST journalism field. In 1997, the outgoing head of the FCC caused quite a stir when he stated that the broadcast journalists needed to have a Code of Ethics like the print journalists. It turns out that in the 1920s, the Radio/Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) — now called Association of Electronic Journalists — had a Code of Ethics. However, in 1993 they did away with it and in its place put in a “voluntary” Code of Ethics (http://www.rtnda.org/pages/media_items/code-of-ethics-and-professional-conduct48.php) that is to be used as a “guide for self-scrutiny.” What a joke!!!
In effect the broadcast industry in America has no Code of Ethics to hold anyone’s feet to the fire. This is why I have said on this blog that I cannot fault the Koreans as even we in America have no control of what garbage goes onto the broadcast medium.
Now for YOUR examples:
“Jayson Blair at NYT”: Poor choice of example. Cause of poor choice is Gaetano doesn’t understand the topic. “Blair’s plagiarism of Hernandez’s article was so flagrant that it led to further pressing by Times editors, who asked him to prove that he had, in fact, traveled to Texas and interviewed the woman in his article. After being unable to provide proof, Blair resigned from The Times on May 2, 2003. Following the resignation, a full investigation of all of Blair’s articles began.” etc etc. Violated the Code of Ethics for the profession.
“Dan Rather at CBS”: Immediately discard from discussion. Not part of topic. Broadcast industry has only a “voluntary” Code of Ethics.
“Stephen Glass at New Republic”: Poor choice of example. Cause of poor choice is Gaetano doesn’t understand the topic. Glass was reporter for The New Republic fired for fabricating articles, quotations, sources and events. Violated the Code of Ethics for the profession.
“PVT Scott Beauchamp”: Poor choice of example. Cause of poor choice is Gaetano doesn’t understand the topic. Fictious stories of Iraq accepted by The New Republic as factual. The New Republic forced to recant the stories and resulted in loss of reputation because by standing by Beauchamp’s stories as factual without proof, it too violated the Code of Ethics.
5:26 am on August 16th, 2008 16
Gaetano: “Finally, Kalani, I would like to ask, in you assertions that there needs to be some sort of enforceable, industry wide, legally mandated set of ethics to clean up the Korean press, you glide over the very important detail of who or what would be overseeing all this. If such a code of ethics were to be drawn up, implemented and legally enforced who or what would be doing the enforcing?”
A good example of the commonly accepted principles of the Code of Ethics for the PRINT journalism profession is found with The American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE). It was founded in 1934 and represents NEWSPAPERS of big cities of 100,000 or more. You can check Wikipedia for its history on your own. The Code of Ethics for the ASNE (http://www.asne.org/kiosk/archive/principl.htm) is in the form of a Statement of Principles.
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ARTICLE I states: “Responsibility. The primary purpose of gathering and distributing news and opinion is to serve the general welfare by informing the people and enabling them to make judgments on the issues of the time. Newspapermen and women who abuse the power of their professional role for selfish motives or unworthy purposes are faithless to that public trust. The American press was made free not just to inform or just to serve as a forum for debate but also to bring an independent scrutiny to bear on the forces of power in the society, including the conduct of official power at all levels of government.”
ARTICLE IV states: “Truth and Accuracy. Good faith with the reader is the foundation of good journalism. Every effort must be made to assure that the news content is accurate, free from bias and in context, and that all sides are presented fairly. Editorials, analytical articles and commentary should be held to the same standards of accuracy with respect to facts as news reports. Significant errors of fact, as well as errors of omission, should be corrected promptly and prominently.”
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Compare this to the Korea print media “voluntary” Code of Ethics as we see it today and one can see how far apart Korea and America is in the matter of a Code of Ethics.
Another interesting Code of Ethics is for the Associated Press Managing Editors (http://www.asne.org/index.cfm?ID=388). This was written in 1999 and updated in 2004. The reason we find it interesting is because of the controversial 1998 Pulitzer prize article on Noguri that has disputed facts and sources which the AP refuses to recant. One portion states:
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RESPONSIBILITY
The good newspaper is fair, accurate, honest, responsible, independent and decent. Truth is its guiding principle.
It avoids practices that would conflict with the ability to report and present news in a fair, accurate and unbiased manner.
The newspaper should serve as a constructive critic of all segments of society. It should reasonably reflect, in staffing and coverage, its diverse constituencies. It should vigorously expose wrongdoing, duplicity or misuse of power, public or private. Editorially, it should advocate needed reform and innovation in the public interest. News sources should be disclosed unless there is a clear reason not to do so. When it is necessary to protect the confidentiality of a source, the reason should be explained.
The newspaper should uphold the right of free speech and freedom of the press and should respect the individual’s right to privacy. The newspaper should fight vigorously for public access to news of government through open meetings and records.
ACCURACY
The newspaper should guard against inaccuracies, carelessness, bias or distortion through emphasis, omission or technological manipulation.
It should acknowledge substantive errors and correct them promptly and prominently.
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This AP Code of Ethics makes good reading. It is everything that Korean media is NOT — both progressive and conservative. Perhaps I’m too harsh, but after years of distrusting the news, it is hard to break one’s habit. This Code also stands against everything that Roh tried to do in blocking access to government. It stands for presenting news “in a fair, accurate and unbiased manner” — something that is completely lacking in most of Korean news reporting whether about politics or BSE or Dokdo or foreigner crime or you-name-it.
You will note that in this AP Code of Ethics there is NO “voluntary” statement. This means that as a Managing Director of the Associated Press, you sign on to this Code of Ethics. It is NOT voluntary.
But some people may quibble over the use of the words “should” versus “must/shall” in this code, I recommend they look at all the “codes” of various organizations and check their wording.
The reality is that if you pushed “shall” or “must”, there would NEVER be a Code of Ethics adopted. It is a political reality. To be truthful, you’ll mostly find “must/shall” in Code of Ethics statements for small podunk public service companies that publicize these statements as a PR tool.
As we said before, if they put such words as “voluntarily enforced” or “used as a guide” into the Code of Ethics, the Code is nothing more than toilet paper. There are quite a few of these Code of Ethics out there. In this category, But I also repeat that does NOT negate the fact that they do recognize and accept the common values of print journalism profession.
The second point I want to make is that when we talk of “enforceable” we do not mean punitive actions, but simply ostracization by one’s peers for deviating from the Code of Ethics ACCEPTED by professionals representing the MAJORITY of the profession. But the Code of Ethics is not something where you go to jail or anything like that. You don’t go to jail for an ethics violation. The punishment is loss of reputation — and potential loss of one’s career. This goes for all professions — even though ethics vary from protession to profession.
In the past, journalists have falsified stories and actually won Pulitzer prizes. For example, in 1981, Janet Cooke of the Washington Post won a Pulitzer for her story of an 8-year-old crack addict that turned out to be pure fiction. Condemned by her peers, the Washington Post returned the Pulitzer. What happened to Janet Cooke? Who knows, but more importantly, who cares? However, to this day, the Washington Post is remembered for this incident — its reputation tarnished the same as the New Republic’s reputation after the Scott Beauchamp affair. .
But there are disputed articles. The Associated Press Noguri story of April 1998 won a Pulitzer but used sources who many claim lied or weren’t even in the service at the time. Though the facts of the story have been challenged, the AP refuses to retract its assertions. The point here is that as long as the peer group doesn’t condemn the AP, there will be no action. What happened to the authors Charles Hanley, Martha Mendoza, and Choe Sang-hun of that article? They are still pumping out the same rehashed material for AP — most recently in 2008, articles on other Korean War massacres.
The point I’m trying to make is in using both these examples is that when the newspapers are called to task by their peers for misrepresenting the facts under a Code of Ethics, the action can permanently damage the reputations of the individuals and organizations, as in the first instance. But if the peers do not take action nor raise a ruckus over the reporting, there will not be a thing done as in the second incident.
So what good is a Code of Ethics? To oversimplify the matter, it is a means to keep the honest people honest. The journalists out there know that if they get caught lying or misrepresenting the facts in the print media, there is a distinct possibility that they will be subject to a peer review — and lose everything. Yes, maybe they will skate by, but there still remains the possiblity that it could destroy their reputations and end their careers as journalists forever. This keeps them honest in their reporting using the Code of Ethics as the “line” over which they must not step.
But bring this topic to Korea. As it stands now, the Korean Journalist Code of Ethics is worthless — just like the SPJ’s Code of Ethics because it is strictly “voluntary.” No one fears any retribution from their peers. No one is going to lose their reputations or jobs. Heck, Jung Yun-joo lied, distorted the facts and waged a campaign of falsehoods — the tactics condemned at the time by the conservative press who were half-heartedly supporting Lee Hoi-chang. What happened? Roh won the Presidency and Jung became the President of KBS. So much for Code of Ethics. Even today, both conservative and progressive media practice yellow journalism — with the aim of selling more newspapers. Study the news articles during the past anti-US beef feeding frenzy. Every paper — conservative and progressive — had articles that contained misleading information and sometimes outright lies. However, unlike MBC that was forced to publicly apologize, I haven’t seen any retractions for any of those articles.
As I said before, a Code of Ethics has to be ACCEPTED by the peer group FIRST to be effective. Journalists have to fear the loss of their reputation. As it stands right now in Korea, who gives a darn what is said in the press. You can say anything and get away with it. This is why there is so much libel litigation going on — which is a recent phenomena. Roh was going crazy suing the conservative press for libel, a first for a President — and more recently, Lee Myeong-bak is doing the same with the progressive press. If there were a responsible press with peer review, it sure would go a long way to preventing this silliness.
The question of ethics in American media is an open debate. It entails choices on what to report, what to say in the media, etc. When does the government’s need to protect priviledged information conflict with the public’s right to know? When does reporting become propaganda? When does impartial reporting start to show bias for one side or another? There is a list at http://spj.org/ethics.asp of articles on the topic of journalistic ethics.
This topic of Ethics in the Media in America is on-going. The topic of Ethics in the Media in Korea is non-existent.
9:10 am on August 16th, 2008 17
I say with all this due respect Kalani, but I believe it is I who clearly has the better grasp of the topic that we’re discussing
Last time I checked, from the title of this blog post to your comments this is a conversation about the ousted KBS president and the Korean press in general. I’ve gone back and re-read your first comment and NOWHERE did you make differentiation between print and broadcast media.
Futhermore, the examples that I provided and which you clumsily try to debunk, still belies your assertion that each of these individuals were fired because of a LEGALLY empowered, and enforceable set of code of ethics. Again to go back to your previous statement:
“the first step is an ENFORCABLE Code of Ethics. In the US, it exists and we have witnessed many journalists’ careers ended when they stepped over the line.”
But as I’ve said, and you even said, the American press, whether print or broadcast has NO mandatory, legally vested and enforceable set of code of ethics.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but you seem to be saying that the problem with the Korean media’s code of ethics is that it is voluntary while the US’s is mandatory. Well you said as well as I, in the examples that each of have provided, both countries code of ethics are voluntary and not legally enforceable.
9:35 am on August 16th, 2008 18
Yes…I see you do have a clearer grasp of the topic than I do. I’m sorry that I can’t make my position any clearer. YOU WIN… Bye.
10:15 am on August 16th, 2008 19
I’ve had the unfortunate pleasure of reading through comment #12-15 of Kalani’s. While many of the points she makes are interesting, they’re nevertheless pointless to the topic at hand.
Let’s go back to square one here:
Kalani’s contention is that in Korea, the Code of Ethics is voluntary and hence “toilet paper”. Yet Kalani is also willing to contend, and even goes out of the way to prove that the cornucopia of ethical codes for the American press, whether they pertain to print or broadcast media, are voluntary as well. Yes, Kalani makes the point that through the many similarities and consistencies of the many disparate codes, the codes therefore become “enforceable” profession wide.
I’m sorry, but Kalani presents a ludicrous assertion. So what if each different set of ethical codes all say the same thing with unwavering consistancy. If at the end of the day, those seperate codes with the same message are VOLUNTARY, then when push comes to shove, overwhelming consensus becomes moot.
4:24 am on November 18th, 2008 20