A revised bill on the media laws suggested by the rolling party, "Hannara," has been published that will allow companies and newspapers to share in broadcasting companies’ equities. Some people who agree with the revision support it for these reasons: the elevation of broadcasting quality by influx of capital and economic effects like creation of jobs. However, there are some doubts whether the effects will really occur, and there are some serious problems.
The revision will allow only several big companies to become monopolies and oligopolies. The amendment limits stock investment of a company to 20 percent. However, if three companies which have similar dispositions take stocks of 20 percent, their total percentage of the stock investment will be over 60 percent. This rate is enough to hold the real power of public opinion. As a result, the editorial rights and independence of broadcasting will be damaged by the huge capital.
In addition to this situation, the government can control the press by using the media laws. If The Chosun Ilbo, The JoongAng Ilbo and The Dong-A Ilbo, with a character close to the present government and plutocracy, control the broadcasting, that means the entire news media will be under the government. In fact, other newspaper companies have no means to manage their newspaper companies in addition to other businesses. Therefore, only The Chosun Ilbo, The JoongAng Ilbo, The Dong-A Ilbo and the large corporations can operate more than two businesses. If this became a reality, it would be hard to find criticism of the government.
The Constitutional Court said that the revision of the media laws was procedurally illegal, but the law itself was valid on October 28. Although the Constitutional Court recognized the illegality of the revised bill, it didn’t make sense that the law itself was effective. The Ruling Party should not push the bill forward unilaterally, but they should consider the law carefully by collecting the opinions of people and nongovernment parties.