Media: Society: News: Hankyoreh

In addition, voices of concern are rising from the media, civic groups and academia over the six proposals of the’Press Reform and Civil Prosperity Act’, which the Democratic Party announced that it would deal with it at an extraordinary National Assembly in March. I agree with the legislative intention that “there is a need to strengthen substantial damage relief for media reports”, but this is because there is a high possibility that the bill, which lacks legislative expertise, is likely to be dealt with because the purpose and content are different. The six bills included the classification of media, portals, social network services (SNS), and single-person media as punitive damages. However, even activists and experts who have previously expressed their opinions in favor of the punitive damage compensation system targeting the media are criticizing the bill. This is because there is a growing concern that the general public’s freedom of expression will be reduced as the target of the punitive damage compensation system is not limited to the press, but is expanded to all individual Internet users.

The Democratic Party’s direction of legislation itself has been positively evaluated by activists and experts of many media civic groups. In the past 20s, the National Assembly has been criticized for being’legislative sensationism’ by proposing a bunch of bills that are far from the Constitution and are unlikely to lead to actual law enforcement on the basis of regulation of’fake news’ regardless of opposition and opposition parties. In a commentary on the 5th, the Citizens’ Solidarity for Media Reform evaluated that it would be desirable that the (Democratic Party) revised the legislative direction centering on damage relief instead of controlling the media. Among the six bills, the Citizens’ Union for Democratic Press (Ministon Ryeon) also gave a positive evaluation on the amendment to the Media Arbitration Act, which aims to raise the status of the political information to the level of the first reporting against media companies that are passive about political information and to support prompt relief. Criticism is △If Internet users deliberately produce and distribute false information and inflict damage to other users, the court can determine the amount of compensation up to three times the amount of damage, and △A bulletin board where comments were posted by victims who were seriously damaged by Internet comments. The amendment to the Information and Communication Network Act, which allowed a request to stop the operation of the whole, was focused on the amendment to the Media Arbitration Act, which allowed a request to block the reading of articles containing untrue content. Attorney Joon-Hyun Kim (Urro Law Firm) said, “The amendment to the Information and Communication Network Act for all individuals is contrary to constitutional principles by reducing the freedom of expression for individuals,” and “It is necessary to introduce a punitive damage compensation system that can be limited to media outlets.” Said. Some media protested by highlighting the fact that the media targeting punitive damage compensation system was included, but activists assessed that even if this proposal was applied, it would only be at the level of’realization of damage relief’, which does not reach’punishment’. Shin Mi-hee, Secretary General Min Eon-ryeon, said, “The amount of damages does not meet the cost of the victim’s appointment, so it is difficult to regard it as a’punishment’ even if the maximum is increased three times.” In fact, according to the data of the Media Arbitration Committee, the average value of damages determined by the courts in the media reports-related damage claims suit between 2010 and 2019 was 18.58 million won, and the median value was only 6.6 million won.

There are also criticisms that the effectiveness of damage relief will decrease by lowering the accessibility of lawsuits by the general public, rather than’realization of damage relief’. Kim Dong-chan, director of the Media Solidarity, said, “If the court leaves the practice of treating public figures more advantageous than the deaths, and only increases the amount of loss, the court’s examination standards will become more stringent and litigation costs will increase, leading to adverse consequences for the socially disadvantaged. “There is.” Experts also contend that “even if a punitive damage compensation system is introduced, there is a need for a device to prevent’strategic containment lawsuits’, where economic and political power groups such as large corporations, politicians, and high-ranking public officials frequently sue as a means to prevent criticism.” . The government, which was born as a candle after 10 years of’freedom of the press’, is a presidential election pledge and a state-run project, as a’temporary measure’ to promote freedom of expression on the Internet (a portal for Internet postings where rights infringement or rights disputes are expected. The company has promised to temporarily block access to information) and improve the system. This is the reason why it is difficult to understand that the ruling party came up with a bill to expand the targets and types of’temporary measures’ in a situation where there is no movement to implement the government’s pledge. Opennet said, “The system should be designed and promoted assuming that the worst leader appears and abuses it.” “In consideration of the influence and credibility of the media, the’punitive damage compensation’ that would give an economic blow to irresponsible reporting It applies to expressions of the general public, and it is doubtful that the purpose of promoting a law that restricts the right of other users to use the bulletin board and freedom of expression because some comments contain bad comments is for’press reform’ and’public welfare’ “It’s good.”

“If I had only thought about it once from the perspective of the victim… .” Yun Yeo-jin, the executive director of the Journalism Human Rights Center, who has been supporting victims of media reports, stressed, “It is necessary to elaborate the legislation by carefully examining the areas that need legislative support for the relief of damages from media reports and false manipulation information.” Activists and experts cited the need for legislative support, such as preventing secondary damage from expression of hatred, reporting of violent crimes against women and children, and strengthening law enforcement against foreign business operators. The Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCC) made a “decision to delete and block access” on 100 historically distorted YouTube contents related to the May 18 Democratization Movement in 2019, but in 2020, the “International Cooperation Inspection Team” It wasn’t until after the establishment that it could bring out the implementation. According to the data released last month by the Guard, the rate of fulfillment of requests from the five overseas platforms (Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) last year was only 85%. Head of the International Cooperation Inspection Manager Han Myeong-ho said, “The rate of implementation of domestic operators is 100%, but there are many places overseas that have not yet attempted to request a request other than five platforms.” Shim Young-seop, an adjunct professor at Kyung Hee Cyber ​​University’s Department of Media and Video Promotion, who served as the 4th vigilant committee member, said, “Overseas business operators often require a higher level of legal basis than laws such as deliberation regulations. He pointed out that there is a need for legislative support to create an anti-discrimination law that can regulate hate speech or to specify what expressions are regulated under the Information and Communication Network Act.” After being forcibly harassed by actor Jo Deok-je, the victim, who was ruled in victory in the Supreme Court in 2018, visited the Journalist Human Rights Center in 2019. This is because it was not easy to respond to damage videos and sensational media reports spreading online. Executive Director Yoon Yeo-jin said, “In the case of the victims of Mr. Deok-Je Cho, one media company deleted 93 articles through the court’s recommendation for reconciliation.” “There are more than 22,000 media media registered with the government. The damage caused by sensational reporting has increased as views become a structure that leads to profits. It is necessary to support damage relief in line with changes in the media environment.” By Kim Hyo-sil, staff reporter [email protected]