BCC Sanctions ‘Unanswered Questions’ over biased Fifty Fifty coverage

연합뉴스 / 2024-03-05 13:49:37

▲ K-pop girl group Fifty Fifty (Yonhap)

SEOUL, March 5 (Yonhap) -- The Broadcasting Deliberation Subcommittee of the Broadcasting and Communications Commission decided on the 5th to impose a legal sanction of 'warning' on the broadcast segment of SBS TV's "Unanswered Questions," which shed light on the dispute over the exclusive contract of the girl group Fifty Fifty on August 19th last year.

At the hearing on this day, the production team of "Unanswered Questions" stated, "We tried to fairly handle the opinions of the parties involved in this matter. However, due to the lack of wisdom and delicacy on the part of the production team, there were some aspects that appeared somewhat emotionally uncomfortable to viewers when introducing the members' letters at the end."

They added, "As a program that has been loved by viewers for 30 years, we deeply reflect on it. We will be more careful to prevent such incidents from happening again."

The production team also said, "Before the trial results regarding the exclusive contract dispute came out, we obtained permission from the three parties involved (Attract, external service representative An Sung-il of The Givers, and the members of Fifty Fifty) for the broadcast… In the reporting process, there was also an expectation that the three parties could reconcile, or whether it would be possible to film that scene. The fact that the representative of Attract did not appear is the most regrettable part."

Regarding the possibility of follow-up reporting, they explained, "It seems that we have received criticism for not going in the direction viewers expected, with both perpetrators and victims and not criticizing the perpetrators. Currently, as the main trial is ongoing and the members are mentally unstable enough to consider extreme choices, we are not planning to broadcast again."

Chairman Ryu Hee-rim and members Moon Jae-wan and Lee Jung-ok unanimously expressed the opinion of 'warning' at the meeting.

Moon said, "I think it violates fairness regulations because it aired a broadcast that made it difficult to maintain balance ahead of the provisional disposition decision. There is also a high possibility of defamation against the parties involved."

Lee also pointed out, "Not properly informing about the interview contents of internal whistleblowers may be to protect the informants, but indirectly lying to viewers."

Chairman Ryu said, "The program has caused significant social turmoil, and although we have taken measures such as deletion and apology, legal sanctions are unavoidable."

The broadcast segment in question sparked controversy as it broadcasted interviews with the families of Fifty Fifty members, which some criticized as being biased in favor of one side after the broadcast. As a result, it was recorded as the program with the highest number of viewer complaints received by the Broadcasting and Communications Commission from January to August last year.

Specifically, the complaints included not notifying about the 're-enactment through dubbing' while reproducing the contents of interviews with internal whistleblowers, comparing activities and business structures within the popular culture industry to casino tables and chips, and mentioning artists unrelated to the case, such as BTS, who succeeded under more difficult circumstances than Fifty Fifty.