It is pointed out that it is difficult to avoid punishment for violations of laws such as the Fair Trade Act and the Subsidy Act if the incidental manipulation of newspapers, including the Chosun Ilbo, is revealed to be true.
The’ABC Association Incidental Operation Suspicion Emergency Debate’ was held at the press center in Jung-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 25th, hosted by members of the National Assembly Kim Seung-won and Choi Kang-wook, and co-hosted by the Democratic Citizens’ Union, the National Press Union, and Media Today.
The ABC Association is an organization that reports the results of the publication of copies from newspapers and certifies them through a sample survey. Previously, Media Today reported that as a result of on-site surveys conducted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the actual number of daily newspapers such as the Chosun Ilbo and the Hankyoreh was only half of the reported copies.
The possibility of fraud in violation of the Fair Trade Act and Subsidy Act
Kim Seung-won, a member of the Democratic Party in charge of the presentation, pointed out that “manipulation is an act of deceiving the influence of the public, and there are various problems including criminal offenses that trick advertisers and receive exaggerated advertisements that do not fit the essence.”
Rep. Kim Seung-won said, “If this incident of incidental manipulation turns out to be true, it is a violation of the Fair Trade Act.” Article 23 of the Fair Trade Act prohibits’unfairly inducing competitors’ customers to trade with them’. According to the Fair Trade Commission’s notice, the act of inducing a newspaper publisher to request an advertisement by misrecognizing an advertiser by including and expanding the number of newspaper copies distributed to readers in the number of newspaper copies distributed to readers is a violation of the Fair Trade Act.
Rep. Kim Seung-won said, “It can be a crime of fraud in the way that it deceives the advertiser and the public. It also violates the law on subsidy management because I received subsidies provided by the state based on distorted copies.” The Act on Subsidies Management stipulates that subsidies must be enforced according to the intended use and must not be received in an unjust way.
Newspaper companies receive subsidies in the name of newspaper magazine distribution improvement and news distribution improvement projects. From 2011 to 2020, the amount paid as related subsidies was 4,638 billion won by the Chosun Ilbo, 4,229 billion won by the Dong-A Ilbo, 4,577 million won by the JoongAng Ilbo, 2,255 million won by the Hankyoreh, 2,275 million won by the Maeil Economy, and the Kyunghyang Shinmun 20 It was found to be 6 billion won, the Hankook Ilbo 1.84 billion won, the Kookmin Ilbo 1.66 billion won, the Seoul newspaper 1.37 billion won, and the Korean economy 1.36 billion won.
Government advertisements are also calculated based on ABC copies, so this amount can be pointed out in the same context. The Chosun Ilbo generated 782 billion won in revenues last year through 782 government advertisements, the Dong-A Ilbo raised 9.515 billion won (869 cases), and the JoongAng Ilbo generated 8.320 billion won (881 cases).
Rep. Kim Seung-won said, “The subsidy redemption measures must be taken. He pointed out that if only half of the actual executions were carried out, tens of billions of profits were stolen.” Debater Seung-soo Ha also said, “Under the Fair Trade Act, criminal penalties and fines can be imposed at the same time. Subsidies can be redeemed, but there is a concept of’penalty surcharge’ as well as the amount of violation. He said, “If you get subsidies by falsehood, you can pay up to five times the sanctions surcharge.”
Apart from the suspicion of fraudulent manipulation, the behavior of pushing out newspapers may also be illegal. Pushing out the newspaper is when a newspaper delivers more than necessary copies to the office that delivers the newspaper. Rep. Kim Seung-won said, “Forcing or unilaterally supplying goods and services that you do not intend to use or purchase is a violation of the Fair Trade Act.”
ABC Association needs to be changed
On this day, the presenters and debaters agreed that there is a need to improve the operation and system of the ABC Association.
Rep. Kim Seung-won suggested the reform of the British system, such as the ABC Association’s administrative supervisory agency, the administrative guidance of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, the ABC Association’s governance reorganization, and an objective subsidiary commissioning system for external professional organizations.
Rep. Seung-won Kim said, “At present, the ABC Association’s board of directors, mainly for newspaper publishers and advertisers, has limitations in objective auxiliary construction. It is important to have a group of external experts enter the board.”
Heo Chan-haeng, an adjunct professor in the Department of Media Communication at Cheongwoon University, said, “If the press wants to do business and request support, an ABC member qualification is essential. “Since the advertisement unit price standard is also applied, the newspaper company has no choice but to want to inflate, whether major or not,” he pointed out.
Adjunct professor Heo Chan-haeng said to the board of directors of the ABC Association, “The newspaper companies subject to audit are excessively representative on the board. Advertisers are also on the board of directors, but when a decision is made by more than half of the newspapers, the decision is made so that the advertiser rarely participates.” He pointed out that “the fact that the monitoring of the sample station is not properly performed and the verification body does not play a role is a problem of the association’s operation and institutionalization.”
Adjunct Professor Heo Chan-haeng said, “People in responsible positions who have made this structure customary and fixed should take responsibility and decide where to go. Furthermore, there is a need to improve it by certifying the actual paid copies. “But is it a problem only for the ABC Association and newspaper companies? In some cases, it was neglected because the main authority did not supervise. The same is true of the government that has provided advertisements.”
Attorney Seung-soo Ha said, “The ABC Association deserves to revoke the permission for establishment. In this case, the employment succession of employees arises, so I hope the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism finds a solution to this problem.”
It’s a serious problem in the media as a whole, but’silence’
Apart from legal issues, criticisms of the media continued. Media Today reporter Jung Cheol-woon, who was in charge of the presentation, said, “It is very self-contradictory and not to the extent of the media to announce unreliable incidental results in newspapers where trust is vital.
He added, “I think the statistics distortions like today have occurred as the owners obsessed with the numbers. It is not only a problem of the Chosun Ilbo. It could be a problem between the Hankyoreh and Kyunghyang Shinmun.”
The suspicion of incidental manipulation of the ABC Association is attracting attention, including an inquiry from the National Assembly, but many daily newspapers have not reported it.
In this regard, attorney Seung-soo Ha said, “If a company doubled the effect of drugs and sold them to consumers and made profits, all the media would not have reported. There will be a flood of articles addressing legal issues. However, the media rarely deal with this issue. “This is not a matter of progress or conservatism. Reporters should try to report their problems on their own.”
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