Court Orders MBC to Broadcast a Retraction on Mad Cow Report

A Seoul civil court on Thursday found an influential MBC report on U.S. beef health risks “wrong” and ordered the major broadcaster to air a correction, upholding the government’s complaint over the critical coverage.   

“PD Notepad should broadcast a correction of its wrong piece on mad cow disease,” Judge Kim Sung-gon of the Seoul Southern District Court said in the verdict.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries raised a complaint against the popular MBC current affairs program, PD Notebook, arguing its April report intentionally distorted facts related to U.S. beef to exaggerate the risk of mad cow disease.  [Yonhap]

As long as the power of courts goes no further than to declare a broadcast to be factually inaccurate and expose the basis and motivations for the inaccuracy, I am not troubled by the idea of a government agency suing a media organization in court.  There has to be some kind of check on media reporting that is this irresponsible and this consequential for national policy.  Unfortunately, things  have gone further, and we  have crossed the line from the correction of falsehoods to the state mandating the content of broadcasts.