Impending threat of privatization led MBC to join broadcasting strike

 

It is because of the muzzle of the proposed legislation about relationships within the media industry are aimed straight at Munhwa Broadcasting Company that its union is leading the charge in the National Union of Media Workers’ general strike, which begins this morning. The way MBC’s union sees it, the broadcaster will be the first to be privatized if the ruling Grand National Party amends newspaper and broadcasting laws to allow big business chaebol and conservative newspapers to enter the terrestrial broadcasting industry.

 

“How mouth-watering it must be for chaebol owners to see MBC arriving on the market to be privatized!” said MBC union leader Park Seong-je. “It is nothing more than an excuse for the GNP to say it wants to pass this legislation for the development of the media industry.”

 

“The union had no choice but to be resolved for all contingencies and participate in a general strike to directly inform the Korean people of the (Lee Myung-bak) administration’s intention to hand MBC over to the chaebol and the Chosun Ilbo, the JoongAng Ilbo and the DongA Ilbo,” he said, referring to the nation’s three leading conservative newspapers.

 

Union members are said to have been enraged at a recent comment by Korea Communications Commission Chairman Choi See-joong, who essentially told MBC that it should “know its place,” and by reports from the three conservative newspapers with an interest in the outcome as they quoted him in reports that are part of their campaign to have MBC privatized.

 

One MBC official agreed that Choi’s statement has made matters worse. “It’s a fact that what Choi had to say, and the way the Chosun, the JoongAng, and the DongA reported it, fueled critical feelings within the company,” said the official. “Reports like that made people angry as they wondered whether the newspapers were trying to encourage a strike, and this became a major part of what led to sentiments within the company in favor of a strike.”

 

Even MBC executives have a shared sense of crisis about the GNP’s plans.

 

“The GNP’s legislation does not mention so much as the ‘M’ in ‘MBC,’ but no one at MBC is ignorant of the fact that this is about opening up a way for it to be privatized,” said one “team captain” (timjang) level executive. “Some managing executives worry about how the strike targets the Lee administration and that it will hurt ratings, but even they can’t deny the strike’s legitimacy... and if the GNP’s bill gets passed, we’ll end up in a situation in which this won’t be anything but a negative factor.”

 

MBC President Ohm Ki-young issued a formal statement on Wednesday in which he called for restraint on the part of the union and expressed concern about the proposed legislation. Though it employs figures of speech, his statement is being interpreted as an expression of his intention to defend public broadcasting. While gesturing to the administration and ruling party that he is trying to calm the union, it nonetheless clearly conveys that he is opposed to MBC’s privatization.

 

“Naturally the management is surely being pressured by the ruling camp in various ways,” said another executive. “But we’ve yet to give up hope in Ohm.”

 

This most recent legislation is not the end of it, and there is more to come. The GNP has other knives hidden away for coercing MBC.

 

The most likely scenario to follow in its reorganization of MBC is the GNP’s plans to revise the Broadcast Law. Changing laws that govern newspapers and broadcasting in general will make it possible for the chaebol and conservative newspapers to enter terrestrial broadcasting. Changes to the Public Broadcasting Law, then, will perform the critical role of excluding MBC from the realm of what is classified as public broadcasting.

 

It has also been suggested that when the terms for current board members of the Foundation for Broadcast Culture expire in August 2009, individuals favoring the ruling camp’s agenda would be appointed to sit on the board. Those new board members would then be able to decide on privatization and the sale of FBC’s stake in the broadcasting company.

 

“MBC’s fate is something that should be decided by MBC and civil society, not by the administration,” said one current FBC board member. “Since the administration’s designs on privatizing MBC are something that will turn the way Korean society forms its opinions inside out, the time when FBC needs to fight in a big way will come soon enough.”