Issues in Depth: PD Notebook, Part One   2008-10-28 03:19

No, this blog has NOT been abandoned. I've been a little busy lately... that's all. The "Issues in Depth" series that I promised in August is also still going on! I actually like the fact that now I'm writing on a largely outdated issue. Since the fervor is no longer there, hopefully my writing will be more objective.

The U.S. beef controversy that heated our nation last summer is now all but over. Beef imported from the Land of Cowboys is selling like crazy everywhere in Korea, so much so that the government now feels comfortable enough to consider importing Canadian beef, too. (Three mad cows were found in the U.S.; fourteen were found in Canada.) But really? Have the Korean People finally "realized that they had been fed false information about the so-called danger of U.S. beef, and chose not to be fooled again", as the government would like us to believe? Or is there something more to the story, which the government is trying to prevent us from talking about?

And why is it still so difficult to find meat shops and restaurants advertising U.S. beef, if it's so cheap and tasty and -- most importantly -- totally safe?

As I wrote in earlier articles in this series, my view of the matter is that the U.S. beef controversy and three months of bloody protests that followed actually had more to do with the government's handling of the issue than with the safety (or lack thereof) of U.S. beef itself. The way in which our government dealt with this controversial issue helped people discover the dark side of his "bulldozer" leadership. He wouldn't allow anyone to stand in his way. He wouldn't let other people question his priorities. He would have the country all for himself and for his supporters, as if anyone who disagreed were not a member of his corporati... er, Republic.

And the way Lee's administration dealt with the TV show PD Notebook (or PD Diary according to some translations) was one of the earliest signs of things to come. Oh, and this also had something to do with the issue of U.S. beef.

PD Notebook, MBC (channel 11), every Tuesday at 11:05 p.m.

MBC is a somewhat left-leaning network. Since President Lee and his Hannara Party call themselves right-wing, MBC is usually the first TV/radio station to report on anything that might be unpalatable to the government. MBC is also the second-largest network in Korea and receives no subsidies from the government, which explains why it's difficult for the government to control it one way or another. On April 29, 2008, PD Notebook -- MBC's flagship investigative news show -- talked about the issue of U.S. beef, which was just beginning to get controversial. (The agreement to permit the unrestricted import of U.S. beef had been signed just 11 days earlier.) PD Notebook focused on the possibility of contracting vCJD from eating U.S. beef; and the information it conveyed was probably the most important reason why our teenagers held their first candlelight protest barely three days afterwards.

As we all know, this protest and the ones that followed were very unpalatable to President Lee Myung-Bak, who had just returned from his first-ever meeting with George W. Bush. As the oppression of outdoor demonstrations intensified, PD Notebook was also blamed -- not only by government officials but also by pro-government newspapers such as Chosun Ilbo and Joong-Ang Ilbo -- for making people concerned about U.S. beef imports. The fact that the producers of PD Notebook were somewhat careless in putting their report together gave the government and its supporters ample opportunity to criticize the whole program.

If you believe what Chosun Ilbo says in its reports (see links 1/2/3/4), the PD Notebook broadcast was a total lie, designed from the very beginning to incite the public into rising up against the government. On the other hand, if you believe what some people have been saying in defense of PD Notebook, MBC and the producers were absolutely faultless. Which side should we believe?

The PD Notebook controversy has since grown into an even more serious controversy over the government's alleged attempts to gain total control over the nation's TV stations. Since July, two of Korea's four national networks (KBS and YTN) have had their CEO's replaced by men hand-picked by the President's Office. The third (SBS) has always been supportive of Lee Myung-Bak, so that leaves only MBC in the other side of the political division. Given these circumstances, many people consider the PD Notebook controversy from June to August to have been Lee's first attempt to make sure that MBC understands who is boss.

In my treatment of the issue, however, I will only talk about the content of what PD Notebook said on April 29 and in some of its follow-ups in May and June. Government control of the media is another big topic that deserves a separate treatment.

To be continued in Part Two...

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