The Korea Communications Standards Commission held a plenary meeting at Mokdong Broadcasting Center in Yangcheon District on the 3rd and voted to issue a legal sanction of 'caution' regarding MBC TV's 'MBC News Special' aired on Dec. 29, 2024, which was criticized for broadcasting the scenes of the Jeju Air disaster without editing.
The special coverage aired unedited footage of the plane failing to reduce speed and colliding with the exterior before exploding, and subtitles unrelated to the broadcast, such as 'Impeachment: 817', were displayed on the screen for about a second before disappearing. There were also issues raised about referring to the East Sea as the Japan Sea.
MBC noted in a written statement that 'the crash scenes were used three times at the beginning of the special coverage, but we recognized the problems and subsequently used edited footage.' They added, 'The subtitles were due to a staff error, and there is no basis for conspiracy theories. The anchor apologized for using a map that referred to the East Sea as the Japan Sea.' MBC also filed a disqualification request against Chairperson Ryu Hee-rim, but it was dismissed by the other two Commissioners.
Chairperson Ryu emphasized during the deliberation that 'the broadcast regulations specify that during major disasters, we should not air overly sensational footage of damaged areas that could disrupt the stability of victims and viewers.'
Commissioners Kim Jeong-soo and Kang Kyung-pil stated, 'There was no apology or reasonable explanation regarding the serious broadcast incident.'
The commission voted to issue an administrative recommendation 'recommendation' regarding JTBC's 'JTBC News Special' aired on Dec. 29, 2024, which was criticized for repeatedly airing the collision and explosion scenes of the accident aircraft, with some frames paused, based on follow-up actions such as an apology broadcast.
Additionally, UBC TV received a caution for airing alcoholic beverage advertisements during restricted time slots, while JTBC Golf was subject to a recommendation for being the first incident of its kind.
A complaint was raised against KBS 2TV's 'Gag Concert' aired on Nov. 12, 2023, for making fun of the speech and appearance of married immigrant women and potentially inciting discrimination and hatred against specific groups, and it was decided to withhold the decision pending opinions from the broadcast advisory committee. It has been reported that Oh Jeong-hoon, the former head of MBC News, who entered as a recommendation from the People Power Party, has resigned for personal reasons from the recently formed Election Broadcasting Deliberation Committee for the 2025 first half by-elections.
The committee is expected to hold its first meeting next week as soon as a successor is recommended by the People Power Party.