Pohang MBC special documentary on POSCO’s industrial accidents and environmental pollution <그 쇳물 쓰지 마라>After the first airing on December 10th, it is making a big sensation. Driven by momentum, it was broadcast nationwide at 5:15 pm on December 22nd. Since then, through various social media, blogs, and YouTube, the documentary has become a social issue. In the beginning, the production crew could not even predict such a reaction during the planning stage. This is because it was not an easy problem from the start, as the problem of accusing the leading public corporations in Korea in the region is ignoring the direct and indirect effects on the local community and broadcasting companies.
Our program was designed to prosecute the serious occupational diseases of steel mill workers, environmental diseases of nearby residents, and cartels of power agencies silent about the unfair reality through the case of POSCO, a representative pollution-causing company. ‘Do not use that iron’ used in the program is the title of a memorial song made by singer Harim for a young man in his twenties who died in the furnace of a steel mill.
Korea is the number one country in OECD countries where workers die from industrial accidents. Most of the media deal with more dramatic accidents than occupational diseases, but in reality there is a much higher probability of dying or getting sick from occupational diseases. In order to complain about these issues, the program calmly reflected the background and the process of fighting lung cancer, leukemia, and Lou Gehrig’s disease of four workers who recently retired after working at POSCO for 3 to 40 years, the testimony of the person concerned and the problems of the survivors. They worked at steel mills with unfamiliar names, such as Roll Shop, Coke, and Stailes, and comprehensively interviewed experts on hazardous substances from the process, presented at the International Cancer Research Institute under the U.S. EPA and World Health Organization, and international research papers. As a reference, we focused on finding the relationship between the harmful substances emitted from the process and the diseases of the victims. In this regard, the’Severe Accident Enterprise Punishment Act’ promoted by the National Assembly and civic groups has recently passed the National Assembly Judiciary Committee, but workplaces with fewer than five employees were excluded, and the contents of occupational diseases are still insufficient. There is still a long way to go to secure an appropriate national safety net against industrial accidents.
The second problem was the environmental disease of residents near POSCO. Hazardous substances that caused occupational diseases for POSCO workers were discharged out of the factory, causing environmental diseases to nearby residents.A small town 500 meters from POSCO was covered in iron powder, and vivid testimonies from residents that there were 35 cancer patients poured out. lost. In addition, as a result of the government’s epidemiological investigation, it was also tracked that the residents of Pohang Industrial Complex including POSCO were suffering from serious environmental diseases. Nevertheless, POSCO denies the connection. Even experts say that POSCO does not know what harmful substances and how much because of its overwhelming influence.
The third dealt with the problem that occupational diseases such as the above are systematically hidden. Regarding the alleged concealment of POSCO occupational diseases in 1990, the production crew secured the testimony of the party that “POSCO instructed the case to be reduced and concealed”, and included testimonies such as pressure received from the company during the process of applying for occupational diseases, etc. In this process, the situation was revealed that POSCO, local governments, local councils, and the media were organically involved. Even when looking at the video of POSCO’s emissions taken during the interview, Gyeongsangbuk-do, the supervisory agency, replied, “No action can be taken,” and even a number of local lawmakers, including former and current Gyeongbuk-do lawmakers, were found to be executives of POSCO suppliers. In addition, it was confirmed that 98% of POSCO articles used by local media companies were publicity, and only 2-4% of criticism articles dealing with industrial accidents and environmental issues were obtained as a result of the commissioning for the Department of Journalism at Handong University.
However, on the 11th, the day after the broadcast, the POSCO union under the Korean Federation of Trade Unions said,’In the future, POSCO will block all investments in Pohang and social contribution activities. POSCO’s position is to stop all consumption of POSCO employees, including meals, and even move employees and children’s addresses to other cities to make Pohang a small and medium-sized city with less than 500,000. The local community was overturned, and local civic groups and politicians were surprised to find that a trade union organized to protect workers’ rights and interests could issue such a statement, and strongly criticized it with a single voice, saying it was a declaration of intimidation against the entire community. did.
Not only that, the POSCO management has filed a lawsuit against reporter Jang Seong-hoon, who produced the program, claiming damages for defamation and personal rights infringement. He filed a claim for damages of 50 million won for damaging POSCO’s reputation (refer to the media today article on the 13th). Earlier, reporter Jang Seong-hoon presented opportunities to explain to POSCO several times through various channels due to the high importance of the issue due to the health of workers and residents. However, POSCO rejected the interview and ended up giving a formal response without specific grounds, and before and after the report, it did not go through formal procedures such as refutation or media arbitration against the content.
POSCO’s labor-management behavior is an act of curbing the media, and is the tyranny and oppression of large corporations against the media. We, Pohang MBC, have decided to respond to this company-wide, and the Pohang Citizens’ Association and the National Metal Workers’ Union, organized by 15 labor and civil society organizations in the Pohang region, are also making a strong response in solidarity. In addition, with the announcement of the threatening position of the POSCO union, the Korean Journalists Association, the Korean Broadcasting Journalists Association, and the Korean PD Association have already made statements criticizing POSCO and the union.
What if there is no media to monitor and supervise the local giant corporations, political powers, and toho forces, and if the local media succumb to them and fail to function properly? Not only Pohang MBC, but also local MBC members have worked hard to fulfill the mission of public broadcasting for the past three years after clearing the obstruction during the days of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye, and have never forgotten this vocation. Today’s situation will be remembered by local people and members as a proud event as a public media company that is not ashamed of tomorrow, representing the local people without surrendering to power and capital, although the management situation is difficult and the staff for reporters is extremely short. .
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