The US beef hysteria in South Korea were given a huge credibility boost in the early days by the airing of a TV show (PD notebook – kind of like 60 minutes, but without the integrity) highlighting the dangers of importing beef from the US. This was a great piece of journalism that touched the country and perfectly illustrated just how dangerous the meat could be. Except it didn’t. The show was riddled with lies and inaccuracies.
The three biggest lies are now being targeted by the government and it is expected that criminal charges will follow:
- Footage of a “downer” cow being illegally sent to slaughter was misrepresented as a typical case of Mad Cows being killed for human consumption. Downer cows are considered unfit for human consumption in the US, though not in Korea!
- An interview with an American woman whose daughter had died was show talking about her death. The show translated her as talking about her daughter dying from Mad Cow Disease, when this is NOT true. They used somebody’s death in a horrible way in order to mislead the public.
- They claimed that 94% of Koreans have a gene that makes them likely to catch mad cow diseases. To back this up they quoted a scientific paper entirely out of context and the scientist made a point of saying so.
So, they have misled the public and manipulated public opinion by using poor journalism, and now they are having to pay the price for that. Korea Beat have posted an article about this, and I am not sure if I agree 100% with their position that such piss-poor journalism should go entirely unpunished.
These journalists have abused their position, and neglected their duty to tell the truth. Sometimes, the truth is open to interpretation, and had they interpreted information in a way that I disagreed with, I would defend their right to do so. PD Notebook have not done that. They have not made a mistake. They have deliberately lied and misrepresented “facts” in order to cause a public panic. They have used the personal tragedy of a mother and manipulated it by representing it as something else, hiding behind a language barrier in order to avoid immediate scrutiny.
Korea’s libel laws are pretty harsh. Posting information that tarnishes the reputation of a person of individual is considered libelous, even when the information is true. Whatever I may think of that particular law, it is still the law and so it should be followed by all. These lies were conjured up to damage the reputation of the President, and the reputation of the US Beef industry, and so they should be punished for that alone.
The protests that followed were damaging to Korea’s international reputation. Re-negotiating trade agreements after they have been signed will make future agreements difficult to reach.
It now turns out that the US Beef protests have been organised by the pro-North movement, who have been using beef to rally support for their cause. They were doing this before the PD Notebook show, and their cause was given a tremendous boost by the propaganda published. Again, whether right or wrong, promoting a Pro-North Korea agenda is illegal in the South Korea, and is considered a criminal act punishable by imprisonment.
Tales of people being persecuted for debunking the lies in the show, show just how much faith the Korean people put in TV shows and newspaper reports. Journalists need to be held accountable for their actions. Ideally, an independent, self-regulating watchdog, similar to those in the UK would better serve the journalism industry. I am not an advocate of criminal charges being brought against honest journalists, and whilst I believe that PD have deliberately acted dishonestly and criminally, I fear that a precedent could be set by a criminal prosecution. There needs to be some system in place to monitor journalism and to ensure accuracy and integrity of reporting without restricting their right to report on current affairs. Having a journalism watchdog with powers similar to those of the PCC, one that forces journalists to adhere to their own guidelines, and to ensure that when guidelines are breached self-correction measures are taken, could work very well in a country where ‘losing face’ is considered more important than the truth.
At the moment, South Korea does not have any kind of regulatory body to ensure journalistic integrity. If the government decide to continue with criminal prosecution, the need to exercise some restraints. They need to make sure that the public and the media understand that they are being punished for deliberately misleading the public, and the prosecution should be made to prove that the dishonesty was indeed deliberate, and that it was done for profit. They should keep away from any opinion pieces, and instead focus on the lies that were backed up by false evidence. The penalty sought should be for all advertising revenues that the episode gathered, as well as any increase in revenues that may have resulted over the next few weeks. They should then use the money to help offset the cost of policing the demonstrations that resulted! The solution could help promote journalistic integrity, and will ensure that the media can continue with honest reporting on any issue they want.
