[The Hankyoreh, August 19 2008] [Editorial] Gov’t tries to tame the portals

The administration and the Grand National Party say they are going to revise laws like the Newspaper Act so as to be able to classify portal news sites as news media. Portal sites choose, arrange, and write titles for news articles, they are saying, so they need to bear the responsibility that goes with that.

Since a considerable number of Korean citizens are indeed getting a lot of their news at portal sites, one surely might say there needs to be some legal basis, framework, and rules in place. There is in fact a need for some apparatus to provide developmental momentum in the future, given Korea’s high-tech Internet base and culture. However, it does not look like the administration and ruling party’s motives for wanting regulation originated in such thinking.