News media’s close relationship with politics and business in South Korea puts the press under the heavy influence of external powerholders. Although there is no explicit statement of support for a specific political party, most of the major news media are known to be either right- or left-wing, and on the rare occasion also centrist.
While some news outlets’ ownership structures are more diverse than others, most of the major newspapers and broadcasters are predominantly owned by one or two private owners, media conglomerates, or non-media companies. In 2015, a total of 16 news outlets’ largest shareholders were corporations. KBS is owned by the government of South Korea, but others, like the Chosun Ilbo or JoongAng Ilbo, are predominantly owned by a single owner or owners from the same family. The personal ties between some of the media owners and non-media chaebol owners are considered especially troubling, because these affiliations are not readily noticed, yet can critically impair the independence of the press. Integration of ownership and management has also been a controversial issue in many of the news media companies and a point of struggle between the media union and management.
Journalists in South Korea are also exposed to various forms of external pressure. Although the code of conduct from the Journalists Association of Korea (2014) lists protection of the source as one of the journalists’ responsibilities, without a shield law to protect the journalists who refuse to disclose their source, journalists are often asked to cooperate with the police in a criminal investigation and identify their sources. The absence of a shield law and other relevant articles means that journalists may, unless actively harbouring a fugitive or assisting in a felon’s escape, legally refuse to disclose the personal information of the sources. Still, the law obligates journalists to testify should they be summoned to court and leaves them vulnerable to external pressure to disclose their source, since journalists’ refusal to testify is not protected by law.
