On the 27th, when KBS presented a proposal to raise the license fee to the KBS board of directors, Rep. Eun-ah Huh, a member of the power of the people, separately collected the license fee and the electricity fee, and proposed an amendment to the Broadcasting Act, which included the introduction of the’term crossover system’ by KBS directors.
According to the amendment, the board of directors of 11 members will be increased to 15, and the ruling party has 6 people, the opposition party with the most seats is 6, and the Korea Communications Commission has 3 people by changing the 7-to-4 recommendation structure recommended by the Korea Communications Commission but implicitly. Recommended the president to appoint it. In this case, depending on the shares of the three opposition parties recommended by the Korea Communications Commission, it is highly likely that there will be a 9v6 structure or an 8v7 structure. It is a structure that is advantageous for the power of the current people and can be viewed as an amendment to strengthen political guardianism centered on two parties.
The term of office for the chairman of the KBS Board of Directors is two years, and the term of office for KBS directors is six years, but no consecutive offices are allowed, and the term of office of the first director appointed after this Act enters into force is two, four, and six years, respectively. This is to apply the so-called’term crossover system,’ which is replaced by a third (5 people each) every two years. In this case, there is a high possibility that 2 people recommended by the ruling party, 2 people recommended by the opposition party, and 1 person recommended by the KCC will be replaced every two years, but if the government changes in the meantime, the’many’ will change depending on the share of the KCC recommendation.
Rep. Huh Eun-ah explained that “whenever the government changes, it is a way to prevent the replacement of people who suit their tastes at once, and that KBS can be free from political influence”, but essentially justify and fixate political guardianism, rather than change the government. Since then, it seems possible to criticize whether only the counting method of the politicians has been emphasized to facilitate the’control of broadcasting’.
Kim Dong-won, a policy expert at the National Media Workers’ Union, criticized this amendment as “a regression bill that is more regressive than the current practice,” and then “only the first opposition party could recommend directors. It is to give representation, but it is not something that can be presented by a party that ruined the representation of the National Assembly by tricking a satellite party in the last general election.”
Rep. Huh Eun-ah explained the background of the proposed bill, saying, “In the current board of directors, in which the Korea Communications Commission, which is difficult to ensure political neutrality, recommends all directors, the board of directors has no choice but to have an inseparable relationship with the government structurally.” As far as it is concerned, this revised bill is contradictory as there is no way to avoid the inseparable relationship between the KCC and the government.
“Separate collection of subscription fees and electricity fees” on the day when the board of directors proposes an increase in license fee
In the midst of this, Rep. Eun-ah Heo stated in this amendment that’a person entrusted with the collection of subscription fees shall not be able to integrate the payment notice for the subscription fee collection with the payment notice for other collection fees’. KBS issued a revised bill for the separate collection of license fees and electricity charges on the 27th day when KBS proposes to the board of directors a proposal to increase the license fee from 3,000 won to 3840 won.
Rep. Heo said, “The decision of the subscription fee is confirmed by obtaining the approval of the National Assembly through the Korea Communications Commission according to the deliberation of the KBS Board of Directors. KBS entrusts the subscription fee to the KEPCO and collects it in the electricity rate. He pointed out that it has a financial structure that cannot but be subordinated to political interests rather than the viewers’ evaluation of public interest.”
Rep. Heo said, “We want to ensure that the public can choose to watch public broadcasting by separating it from other fees when commissioning commissions are collected so that KBS can secure political independence and neutrality as public broadcasting.” Earlier in April 2017, Park Joo-min and Democratic Party lawmaker also criticized KBS’ unfairness at the time and initiated an amendment to the Broadcasting Act, stating that “people who do not want to pay the license fee to KBS are not given the option to pay”. I have a bar.
Apart from the criticism that the amendment has emerged for the public opinion war on the level of KBS pressure to stop the license fee increase, we are not just discussing the collection method, but the establishment of the’Submission Fee Calculation Committee’, which is also the presidential pledge, where It is pointed out that it is a stage to discuss the overall license fee system, starting with the disclosure of how much was spent in detail.
Copyright © Media Today, unauthorized reproduction and redistribution are prohibited.