The Democratic Party's task force on strengthening the public interest of media held its first public meeting on Sept. 17, naming revisions to the Government Advertising Act, the Newspaper Act and the Press Arbitration Act as core priorities and pledging to push the legislation through the current regular session of the National Assembly.
The party convened the inaugural meeting of the task force at the National Assembly to discuss its legislative direction. Party leader Kim Min-seok said the goal is to create an environment in which messages reach the public fairly and accurately. "We must build an environment where messages can be delivered fairly and accurately from the standpoint of the people, rather than from the standpoint of politics or political parties," he said. "While our basic approach is to address structural problems, we will also resolve clearly distorted issues — such as the recently raised question of normalizing YTN and TBS — accurately and with a steady hand."
Kim also stressed how the party itself communicates. "We are resolving to become good messengers ourselves and to put out good messages, and we will view every pending issue from the perspective of the people," he said.
Rep. Choi Min-hee, who heads the task force, said there is deep concern that press freedom and the functioning of the public sphere are breaking down. "I hope the legislative process for press reform strengthens the public interest of media and, above all, contributes to forming a public sphere," she said. She added that most of the legislative items fall under the jurisdiction of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, and that Rep. Lee Jung-moon, the committee liaison, has joined as deputy head to improve the odds of getting the bills passed.
The task force identified revisions to the Government Advertising Act, the News Agency Promotion Act, the Press Arbitration Act and the Newspaper Act as its main legislative priorities. Rep. Noh Jong-myun, the task force's liaison, said the work runs from deliberation to passage. "Our task and our goal is to deliberate on each contested point, draft the amendments and get them passed," he said. "We have set the specific goal of getting them through the plenary session within this regular session."
The task force will also review whether the already-revised broadcasting laws and the Information and Communications Network Act are working as intended in practice. Noh said the group would identify precisely where the law's requirements diverge from reality and correct the gap, adding that the YTN and TBS issues and the launch of a transparency center would also be taken up by the task force.
The Democratic Party also held the first meeting of its Youth Future Joint Council, set up to develop policy issues for young adults. "If we do not work together with young people, our party will have no future five or 10 years from now," Kim said. "I hope the Youth Future Joint Council plays an important core role in advancing the party's policies for young people and students."
Youth committee members from inside and outside the party who attended the meeting raised rising suicide rates among young adults, the outflow of young people from regional areas and support for young parents as key issues, and called for related institutional improvements.
