Controversy is growing over the remarks of a reporter who shouted “Fighting the President” during a question and answer session with President Yoon Seok-yeol. Reporting behavior that consumes it as an interest continues, criticizing the media for forgetting the reason for its existence.
On the morning of the 8th, during a question and answer session on the way to work by President Yoon, who returned from summer vacation, a voice called “President, fighting” came out. It was a word that came out as if cheering for President Yoon, who answered the question of declining approval ratings for state management and human reform.
At the time, Park Soon-ae, deputy prime minister and minister of education, was talking about the issue of whereabouts, and when he heard this, he smiled “haha” and said, “Democratic politics is something you can’t do without working with the media. I would like to ask you to help me a lot. Thank you,” he said. Afterwards, the reporter asked President Yoon, who was about to leave, if he had anything to say about the schedule of Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin’s visit to China, and he got an answer.
The reporter who asked the question was confirmed to belong to Arirang TV (Arirang International Broadcasting), which is run by the International Broadcasting Exchange Foundation under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. She asked the reporter for comments on the intent or criticism of the question, but no response was returned. Arirang TV also did not make a statement.
Since then, this “fighting” remark has spread around various social media and online communities and has been criticized. There was also a reaction showing embarrassment, saying, ‘I thought it was fake news’.
Some established media again reported the controversy as an interesting article. This scene, which appeared in some media articles, is ‘“President Fighting!”..“Thank you haha” (MBC), during door stepping ‘“President Fighting” sudden cheering… What is the reaction?’ (The Chosun Ilbo) ), ‘On the first way to work after vacation, “President, fighting!”… What’s your reaction?’ (Edaily).
Reporter Rafael Rashid, a freelance journalist from the UK, shared a video on Twitter that day, saying, “It’s embarrassing to see some reporters from the presidential office crawling under President Yoon’s feet like cheerleaders.”
This is not the first time that the attitude of reporters in the presidential office has become a problem. Contrary to the announcement from the presidential office that said on the 12th of last month that questions and answers on the way to work would be suspended due to the re-spread of Corona 19, when President Yoon said, ‘How about keeping this distance (question and answer)? Prior to that, in June, during the president’s NATO tour, when first lady Kim Gun-hee appeared on the plane, a scene in which reporters responded in response was released, and criticism was raised.
There are concerns that the repetition of such controversies could lead to more than a loss of public trust in the media. Lee Bong-woo, a visiting researcher at ‘Muncle’ at the Media Human Rights Institute, said, “There must be a healthy check and tension relationship (between the press and the president). situation,” he pointed out. The researcher added, “Secret reporting of the presidential office is still something only legacy media can do, but there is a high risk of losing that function on its own.”
Shin Mi-hee, secretary general of the Citizens’ Coalition for Democratic Press, said, “Even if there are politicians supported by reporters and there are specific political parties and factions, it is very inappropriate to make such remarks at the reporting site. Even if it’s a government media outlet, making inappropriate remarks at the site where you participated as a reporter undermines trust in all media and reporters.”
Reports that gossip about the remarks also raised concerns that the press “caricatures itself.” Director Shin said, “We need to know the point of why so many people are angry at this reporter’s inappropriate words and actions. The media should once again recall the principle, the principle, that it is most desirable to maintain a healthy tension relationship.”