President Moon Jae-in held the first’LAN line press conference’ amid the spread of Corona 19. The tradition of’press conference without scripts’ continued this time, and the unprecedented online and offline parallel method was carried out without much difficulty. However, there are also criticisms that while focusing on the natural form, it was lacking in quality.
The press conference held on the morning of the 18th was held at the Blue House Chunchu Hall, video, and online chat windows. In order to comply with the COVID-19 quarantine rules, the number of attendees with President Moon Jae-in was minimized and various questions were opened. Of the 120 people who got the opportunity to ask online and offline real-time questions, 20 attended the Chunchu-gwan site and 100 attended through the video conference system. About 160 reporters who did not get both positions posted their questions in a separate KakaoTalk chat room, and the most recommended question among them was passed on to the president.
Reporters waiting for’number tag’ selection… Most foreign media, Joe, Middle, East 0 times
President Moon spontaneously pointed out the questioner this time, but there was no reporter who’bounced’ to get an opportunity to ask questions like usual. Because President Moon randomly calls the numbers assigned to reporters, the competition for questioning has disappeared. The 120 reporters quietly held the number tags handed out by the Blue House and waited for the President to call them. Among the attendees of the video, some reporters walked the Taegeukgi in the background or waited on the beach in subzero weather (in front of the tidal flat), but they were not selected.
During the 120-minute press conference, the opportunity for questioning went to 27 reporters (24 on-site and video, 3 chatting). This is less than 10% of all participants. By media, foreign presses were the most frequent with 6 times, 4 times each for economic journals and central daily newspapers, 3 times each for terrestrial and telecommunications companies, 2 times each for longitudinal and cable, and 1 time each for local and professional magazines. The three chat questions were delivered to President Moon by SBS reporter, the’KEY company’ in charge of sending the press conference, but the names and positions of each questioner were not disclosed.
Unfortunately, reporters belonging to conservative daily newspapers such as Chosun, JoongAng, and Donga Ilbo did not get an opportunity to ask questions. Some reporters doubted that some sort of coordination had been made because the Blue House knew the unique number of each reporter. The Blue House, however, explained that only the press conference method was communicated to the president, and the number of times it was never shared with which media, which reporter was. At the actual press conference, the President himself checked the number tag held in the hands of reporters and showed him to select the questioner.
Reporters who were chosen because of “Internet connection problem…”
Although it was only selected as a questioner, there were cases where the opportunity was blown due to an Internet connection problem. One reporter, whose screen was cut off as soon as he started asking questions, couldn’t finish the question even at the opportunity again. In the case of a foreign reporter who also attended by video, he took off his mask in frustration when the questioning sound stopped, but the opportunity went to another reporter. Before the press conference, the Blue House actually conducted at least six rehearsals on the 15th, including the 1st and 2nd rehearsals on the 15th, the 3rd rehearsal on the 17th (12pm and 2pm), and the 4th rehearsal on the 18th (frequent after 8am). As we progressed, we checked the connection status of individual reporters. However, the unexpected situation in the field could not be prevented.
The fundamental limitations of the improvised Japanese Q&A were also revealed. First of all, the topic is biased. The Blue House tried to receive questions in the order of △ Defense·Social △ Politics·Economy △ Diplomacy·Security, etc., but failed to arrange for each field. As there was only one opportunity to ask questions, the questions were focused on the political field, which is a major concern. As foreign journalists received a lot of choices, questions related to diplomacy and security were also high. The questions on this day were divided into △diplomacy and security 8 times △politics 7 times △economy 6 times △quarantine 5 times △society 2 times △press 1 time △education 1 time. When it comes to diplomatic and security questions, 5 out of 8 questions about relations with the US and North Korea were the most common. In the political field, the so-called’Chumi-ae and Yoon Seok-yeol conflict’ (3 cases), and pardons (2 cases) including the former president.
This created an alienated area contrary to the intention. As questions focused on specific topics were concentrated, issues such as labor, environment, and human rights could not be addressed even at a press conference. Some pointed out that the voices of the local media were not heard. Immediately after the press conference on the 18th, the National Media Workers’ Union said in a statement, “We express our regret that none of the reporters appointed at the press conference from non-metropolitan media companies.” “In the future communication with the people the President promised, I ask you to make an effort for the conversation.”
Question field, form Regret remains… Concerns about reducing press contact with the president
There was a response among reporters in the Blue House that the question format needs to be supplemented. It is an opinion that it is not possible to adjust the content of the question, but to distribute the questioners by field. Reporter A said, “Even if it was not the field I wanted, I had to ask questions unconditionally when I heard my number. “If you are chosen, will you have to ask questions that have priority?” Some say that chat-style questions were useful within these limitations. Reporter B said, “It seems that the side effects of’random’ Q&A could be supplemented by collecting opinions of many reporters through the talk board.”
There is also a view that the Blue House no longer needs to be buried in a’press conference without script’. Reporter C, who watched the press conference online, commented, “I thought it was a press conference where my Mac was released.” He said, “It wasn’t easy to figure out what kind of content I heard after seeing the press conference, whether the question was because of heavy heating. In addition, when a different answer came out from the intention of the question, I was constantly frustrated because it was impossible for the material to be answered. “At the New Year’s press conference, I would suggest a state affairs agenda or look forward to a clear direction, but it seemed that I was obsessed with the past.” I conveyed regret.
Meanwhile, there are concerns that President Moon could further reduce media contact with this press conference. In fact, as criticism focused on President Moon’s ‘adoption remarks’ right after the press conference, the perception that confronting the media has more side effects than the actual benefit is being conveyed within the Blue House. President Moon’s remarks, saying, “I think that communication is not the only press conference,” is also the reason why it feels meaningful. However, protocol secretary Tak Hyun-min, who oversees the press conference, refuted the point of “lack of communication” on Facebook and said, “I will try to make more places where the president, the press, the president and the people can meet.”
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