• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.21
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• pp.147-175
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• 2003

This study is primarily concerned with the criteria for choosing a legitimate state plaintiff in cases involving a states request to media for a right of reply. Interpretation of the right of reply itself is different from country to country because of different constitutional views and systems in each state. Unlike the United States, the constitution of the Republic of Korea does not expressly prohibit the making of laws adversely affecting freedom of the press. Accordingly, in Korea freedom of the press may be restricted through legislation within certain limits and the right of reply is not incompatible with the spirit of the constitution. An analysis of relevant law makes it clear that the particular agency aggrieved should initiate the suit rather than the Justice Minister. The idea that the Justice Minister should assume the role of plaintiff in all state cases seems to stem from flawed interpretations of provisions in the Law Governing Registration of Periodicals and the Law Governing Litigation Involving the State. Even though each state agency has the right of reply, it should be cautioned not to abuse it as the states frequent involvement in litigation may bring on unnecessary misunderstanding and have a chilling effect on the media. The right of reply does not always imply that a certain media report in question is wrong and the media should be sanctioned for it. The right of reply is basically intended to help the general public make an informed judgment on issues presented in the media and insure fairness and balance.

• Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.33-48
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• 2019

The current Moon Jai-in administration in South Korea is facing serious challenges as a result of a scandal involving the manipulation of news online. Staff in Moon's camp are suspected of manipulating public opinion by creating millions of fake news comments online, contributing to Moon being elected president. This South Korean political scandal raises a number of theoretical issues with regard to new platform technologies and media manipulation. First, the incident exposes the technological limits of blocking manipulation of the news, partly because of the nature of social media and partly because of the nature of contemporary technology. Contemporary social media is often monopolistic in nature; with the majority of people are using the same platforms, and hence it is likely that they will be subject to forms of media manipulation. Second, the Korean case of news manipulation demonstrates a unique cultural aspect of Korean society. News comments and readers' replies have become a major channel of alternative news in Korea. This phenomenon is often designated as "reply journalism," since people are interested in reading the news replies of ordinary readers equally to reading news reports themselves. News replies are considered indicators of public opinion and are seen as affecting trias politica in Korean society. Third, the Korean incident of news manipulation implicates a new form of populism in the 21st century and the nature of democratic participation. This article aims to explicate key issues in media manipulation by including wider technological, cultural, and political aspects in the South Korean news media context.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.571-579
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• 2020

The purpose of the study was to explore modern people's emotion regarding sex commercialization related to the abolition of grid girl. To collect data, based on 'reply journalism', this study collected 15 blogs, 10 online cafe contents, 1 youtube video clip, and 364 replies associated with the three online contents. To analyze the data, interpretive text analysis was utilized and the following results were obtained. As results, the analysis on the replies shows that the most strong emotion of the modern people regarding the abolition of grid girl is anti-feminism that includes hatred toward feminists and even females, criticism on feminism, and notion of 'women's enemy is women themselves'. In addition, sympathy toward racing models who lost their jobs, requirement of same abolition to the people with similar occupations, spatial separation between men and women, and consent on the abolition of racing models were found. Unlike the feminists' emotion regarding sex commercialization and racing models, modern people's emotion was different from them. Rather, ordinary people have doubted and even criticized on the rationales of feminism. Unlike feminists' notion about sex commercialization of racing models, these results imply that social image of racing models has changed and wish their position is respected as an ordinary occupation, without issues of sex commercialization.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.29
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• pp.233-269
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• 2005

The purpose of the study is to explore the characteristics of lawsuits against investigative reporting programs of the broadcast media. This study proposed three research questions: (1) what were the characteristics of court derisions on the investigative reporting programs? (2) what were the reasonings on which judges rely in the lawsuits for a right of reply? (3) what were the critical issues and how the libel laws were applied in balancing between the freedom of the press and the protection of individual rights. To answer these questions, the study employed quantitative and qualitative methods analysing 35 related cases. This study revealed that investigative reporting programs must deal with the Issues of 'public figures' and 'matters of public concern' to be protected under the freedom of the press. The study also found that the broadcast media must prove legitimate public interests and the truth of the facts to prevail in a case. In 1999, the Constitutional Court of Korea held that pubic figures in libel cases must be regarded differently from private figures. In accordance with the decision, the Supreme Court has applied differing criteria for public figures in libel cases. However, courts have not set a clear definition of the public figure yet. To advocate the freedom of the press, as the results of this study indicate, TV producers and journalists should behave lawfully in the course of newsgathering and provide the opportunities of reply for their news sources.

• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.42
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• pp.140-167
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• 2008

This study analyzes the legal reasoning of Seoul Central District Court, which imposed legal liability on portals for posting defamatory user replies to news articles, written and provided by the news media, onto their 'News Windows'. Saddling portals with the burden of verifying the facts associated in news articles and imposing the legal obligation as a publisher entail a grave risk of impairment of free flow of information and freedom of expression. Of course, it would ultimately result in tightening up private censorship of information which the Constitution does not allow, and funker keep portals from posting even news articles in which expressed views and opinions are lawful. When judging whether portals should assume liability fur libelous user replies to news articles, it is necessary to distinguish the territory under the direct authority of portals from cafes and bulletin boards managed by third parties. In addition, imposing legal liability above the level of common carrier should be limited to the cases; when portals arbitrarily change the contents of news articles or when the articles portals changed contain libelous contents. Even if those conditions are met, the altered contents should obviously constitute libel. Only in the presence of proof that portals knew the illegality of news articles and did not take proper steps including deleting those replies, should portals not be considered as an accomplice. Nor should portals take responsibility for users' defamatory replies for those reasons.