• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.81
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• pp.189-224
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• 2017

The case of 'Paik Jong-moon's Taped Conversation,' has presented "an important and serious challenge to the freedom of the press and democracy" in South Korea. Nevertheless, this case has not been reported by the mainstream news media. It has also been forgotten without a proper fact-finding or investigation by regulatory agencies, like The Foundation for Broadcast Culture, The Korea Communications Commission, or The National Assembly. This study aims to examine why the above has happened through in-depth interviews of reporters and TV producers, senior journalists, former and incumbent commissioners of the broadcasting regulatory agencies, and experts of the industry, as well as literature research. Here, I present three answers. First, I found two reasons the mainstream press has ignored this incident. 1) It serves for political interests instead of reporting truth. 2) Public broadcasters' watchdog role has been neutralized. Second, regulatory agencies like The Foundation for Broadcast Culture, The Korea Communications Commission and The National Assembly are ruled by political tribalism. The ruling party's members of the National Assembly and these agencies were reluctant to investigate allegations surrounding Paik Jong-moon, such as illegal dismissals, illegal intervention in programming or production, illegal recruitment and illegal business deals. That's because they considered CEO Paik an ally. Using their majority power, they have rejected the request from opposition-affiliated commissioners or from opposition lawmakers to investigate the allegations. Third, there were no alternative forces within the public broadcasters to unveil the truth. In conclusion, the legal and institutional shake-up of corporate governance is urgently needed for public broadcasters and broadcasting regulatory agencies.