“There are two monitors, and the reporter’s name, affiliation, and question point are displayed for reference.”
This is what President Moon Jae-in said before he was asked at a New Year’s press conference held on January 14 last year. He said, “I will tell you in advance that there are answers in the past.” At the time, the reason President Moon dared to explain in advance was that the’prompter controversy’ occurred repeatedly.
Even after this year’s New Year’s press conference, there was a’happening’ surrounding the prompter. This is a fake photo.
Fake photos circulated on social media. Twitter capture
Prompter original photo. Twitter capture
From the 20th, on Twitter and other online photos, a photo of President Moon’s suspicion that he responded according to the “advice” of the on-site staff during a press conference began to circulate. On the prompter screen in this photo, it is written,’President, if you are speechless, try earning time by answering the principle first.’
However, this phrase is fabricated. Even the original photo was taken at the press conference last year, not this year. In the original photo, on the prompter screen, the affiliation and name of the reporter who asked the question, and’What is the specific goal of the real estate stabilization policy? The summary of the question is written, “What do you think about strengthening the ownership tax?”
As such fake photos circulated, Yonhap News, who took the original photo at a press conference last year, made its stance. On the afternoon of the 21st, Yonhap News reported on its Twitter account, “A’fake photo’ that distorted the scene of President Moon Jae-in’s New Year’s press conference on social media is spreading. We inform you that it is not relevant.”
When fake photos spread, Yonhap News posted a notice on its Twitter account. Twitter capture
On the other hand, President Moon held a press conference by receiving and responding to reporters’ questions in real time, but at every press conference, suspicions were raised that President Moon reads the answers prepared by receiving questions in advance on a monitor. There were also suspicions that if the staff wrote the answer and delivered it through the prompter, President Moon would only read it.
At the first New Year’s press conference after taking office in 2018, Hong Joon-pyo, former chairman of the Free Korea Party, insisted that “when reporters ask, (answers) came up on the prompter in real time,” the Blue House said, “What was put on the prompt was the point of the question, and the answer was immediately made by the President. I did.” During the New Year’s press conference the following year, suspicion of’the script’ surrounding the prompter at the conference was raised.
Reporter Juhee Hong honghong@joonganga.co.kr