Mad Cow Riots in Korea to blame on mass media

I read another article about this earlier in the week but forgot to post it here. Here is a follow up.

MBC program ordered to air more corrections

A Seoul court yesterday ordered local broadcaster MBC's investigative news program to run corrections for misreporting the risks of mad cow disease.

The Seoul Southern District Court said in its ruling that although the follow-up edition of "PD's Notepad" made corrections on downer cows - which it had incorrectly indicated as infected with mad cow disease - the corrections were insufficient, and ordered producers to run another correction.

"Causes for the symptoms of downer cows are various, and cases of mad cow disease have not occurred in U.S. cows born after 1997. Therefore, the chances of downer cows being infected with the disease are not that great," the court explained.

The court also said that the program's report that Koreans are genetically more susceptible to the brain-wasting illness is false, and ordered them to run a correction.

Regarding the death of Aretha Vinson, an American woman whom the program said might have died from variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, the human form of the disease, the program does not need to correct its reporting, since it already did.

The court ordered the program to broadcast the corrections within 10 days of the ruling.

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries lodged a complaint on June 20, calling for MBC producers to air corrections and the ministry's rebuttals. The ministry accused producers of the program of having defamed government officials and negotiators engaged in the beef import deal.

PD's Notepad carried two installments, entitled "Is U.S. beef safe from the risks of mad cow disease?" on April 29 and May 13. The editions are claimed to have triggered waves of protests against U.S. beef imports, which have continued for nearly three months.

On Tuesday, prosecutors said reporting in April by MBC on the danger of mad cow disease appears to have been distorted, and intentionally edited to exaggerate the risks of the disease.

Prosecutors also sent a 140-page questionnaire to MBC, which has so far refused to respond to the high-profile inquiry. MBC says the inquiry undermines freedom of the press.

On July 16, the Korea Communications Standards Commission took disciplinary action against the program, ordering it to make an official apology to viewers.

By Song Sang-ho

(sshluck@heraldm.com)

2008.08.01