Professor Hwang Woo Suk's fabrication of the data in his 2005 article in the journal Science was the biggest and most shameful story of the year. What was even more shameful was the way news outlets violated journalism ethics. Researchers violated research ethics and journalists violated the ethics of journalism to produce the worst story of the year. The high-handed tactics of the MBC program "PD Notebook" caused such a stir that it led to a dramatic turn in the whole sequence of events. Even more a problem is how the cable news channel YTN, which gave intense coverage to PD Notebook's unethical tactics, itself violated the ethics and standards of journalism. There had already been questions back on December 5, when YTN took issue with PD Notebook's tactics using an interview with researcher Kim Seon Jong as its format for doing so. Some suggested that what Kim said may have been "made to order." The evidence backing that up was that it was only an "interview" on the surface, and in reality was a pre-scripted speech by Kim. Still, people hoped that was not the case.
Kim turned out to have made that rumored "profound declaration," however, making it far more probable that YTN deliberately edited around it. Since then it has been alleged that Hwang's people paid for the YTN reporter's travels to the United States, and it has been revealed that the reporter was involved in illegally taking foreign currency of suspicious origin out of the country on his way there. At this point YTN is being accused of being part of Hwang and his associates' manipulation of the media.
Television interviews significantly influence viewers judgment because the interviewee appeals directly to their sensibilities. It is completely unlike what happens with newspapers, which appeal to reason. YTN continues to avoid giving the country a good faith explanation. The media cannot exist without producing news reports that are reliable. When a news company actively conspires to help a source who is trying to hide the truth it must bear responsibility for having done so. We call on YTN to wake up and come clean.
The Hankyoreh, 29 December 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection]
[Editorial] Why Doesn't YTN Come Clean? |
