The newspaper sales market needs fair competition more than anywhere else. The free formation of public opinion is the foundation of democracy, and for that the distribution of diverse information is essential.
What about the situation in our country? Though it eased a while when the law started giving people rewards for reporting violations, but newspapers continue to give away free gifts when you subscribe and some of them give free subscriptions, which violates the "newspaper directives." According to a study by the Citizens' Coalition for a Democratic Media done in March, the violations are widespread, with 95.6 percent of Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo, and DongA Ilbo neighborhood distribution centers breaking the rules.
It gets worse, because lately if you subscribe to regular daily papers, publishers bundle them with "sports newspapers," financial papers, and newspapers for children. The bundling used to be common only in commercial areas, but now it has spread to family residences and some neighborhood distribution centers are forced to bite the bullet to keep the competition from taking their readers. Put simply, the newspaper directives are being mocked viciously.
The fundamental cause is the arrogant attitude of the Chosun, JoongAng, and DongA, which have consistently disregarded the directives, but the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) also has a lot of blame to bear, for neglecting its duty to oversee their implementation and observation. Laws that are not enforced only take away from the law's authority. Civic groups note that the directives have never really been enforced. We hope the FTC humbly accepts that observation and works to change the situation.
It is time to consider simplifying the complicated awards system, and change the directives so that when violations are discovered a newspaper company's main offices are penalized too, instead of just the neighborhood distribution center. The government also needs to consider much more support for the Korea Newspaper Circulation Service, which just began operations last month, so as to make for a smooth-running joint distribution program.
The Hankyoreh, 3 April 2006.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] 'Newspaper Directives' Being Mocked, Neglected |
