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Revisions to Newspaper Law stresses social responsibility
The Constitutional Court yesterday declared a key part of the Newspaper Law constitutional, which requires daily newspapers to begin submitting data on circulation and sales to the Korea Commission for the Press by the end of this month. However, the court declared unconstitutional Article 17, which defines a newspaper company that has a circulation that accounts for more than 30 percent of all dailies as "market-dominant." When fewer than four newspaper companies together have more than a 60 percent market share, they were also to be defined as "market-dominant" by the law that was struck down Thursday. The court was ruling on a motion filed by the DongA Ilbo and Chosun Ilbo, which wanted the Newspaper Law declared unconstitutional for "infringing on freedom of the press." The court found Article 16 to be constitutional, saying newspaper companies "have public roles and social responsibility far greater" than regular companies and that there exists "a major need to normalize the order of the newspaper market by increasing transparency through reporting and disclosure of newspaper companies' ownership structures and business activities."The court also said, however, that there is "no rational reason why newspapers should be more easily defined as market-dominant than regular companies just for having large circulations, which is a matter of choice on the part of newspaper readers." Justices Ju Seon-hoe and Lee Gong-heon, however, held the opinion that the Newspaper Law's stipulations on that particular issue were, in fact, constitutional. "Monopoly in the newspaper market can pervert public opinion, and the ills associated with such a monopoly are much more serious than would be the case in markets for ordinary products." The court also found Article 15, Section 2 of the Newspaper Law to be constitutional, which prohibits a company from simultaneously publishing newspapers along with broadcasting on television or radio. However, it said Article 15, Section 3, which prohibits one daily newspaper company from owning another, is unconstitutional, but is to be observed as law until revised by the National Assembly. Regarding Article 14, the court said newspapers can still be required to print corrections even without having committed deliberate or inadvertent mistakes, and that even persons who are not directly affected by inaccurate information may file a complaint requesting a correction. However, it said it is unconstitutional to require persons to follow procedures from the Civil Lawsuit Law when suing for corrections. In addition, the court said there is "no possibility of press freedoms being violated" by the law's stipulations regarding guarantees on editorial freedom and independence, newspapers' social responsibilities, the formal recommendation that editorial committees be established at each newspaper company, and the creation of the Korea Newspaper Distribution Service. Noting that most of the law's major clauses were found to be consistent with the constitution, culture and tourism minister Kim Myung-gon said the decision "recognizes that reasonable limits can be applied to press freedom." "This is very significant historically, in that it sets clear differences between freedom of the press and the freedoms of media companies," he said. Scholars, members of the National Assembly, and others say they will seek to improve on the parts of the Newspaper Law that were declared unconstitutional.
