[The Chosun Ilbo, October 24 2007] Now Cable TV is Becoming Gov't Propaganda Tool

The Korean Broadcasting Commission recently passed a vote allowing cable and satellite broadcasters KTV, National Assembly Television, Open University Network and Arirang TV permission to show news programs. At present, there are only two news-only cable networks, YTN and MBN. But many other cable networks have been broadcasting news programs until now. In August, the government amended an enforcement ordnance of the Broadcast Law prohibiting ordinary channels from broadcasting news shows. But the government left open a loophole by granting an exception for channels designated by the Korea Broadcasting Commission as public service networks. And now the government has authorized those four broadcasters to show news programs.

...

Newspapers around the world are operating their own broadcast networks. This is a global trend. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is moving to scrap regulations prohibiting the ownership of both newspapers and broadcasters by a single entity in the same city. Korea is the only country in the world that is putting up barbed wire fences around newspapers simply because the government doesn't like them. The reason why the government has allowed news broadcasting rights only to those channels that fit its taste is because this administration is trapped in an outdated mindset of controlling and regulating the news media, which actually belongs to the public.