PD Ahn Joon-young and CP Kim Yong-beom rejoined CJENM
Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo proposes the 'Amendment to the Broadcasting Act'
Broadcasters lost their trust... self-recovery period
Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo proposes the 'Amendment to the Broadcasting Act'
Broadcasters lost their trust... self-recovery period
《Revival of Junho Yoon》
Reporter Yoon Joon-ho of TenAsia introduces trends in the entertainment industry. From the perspective of the MZ generation, let's look back at what the needs of viewers have become, and what made them popular or uncomfortable with the public.
Concerns over manipulation of audition program rankings remain. Amid controversy over fairness, a series of bills to ban ranking manipulation are being proposed in the National Assembly.
People's Power Ahn Cheol-soo, a member of the National Assembly, recently proposed a 'revision of the Broadcasting Act'. The amendment contains provisions to prevent acts of artificially manipulating the viewer voting process of broadcast programs and distorting or falsifying voting results in false or fraudulent ways.
The current law stipulates that unfair competition by broadcasting companies, etc., or acts that infringe or threaten to infringe the interests of viewers must not be done to third parties.
The voice of amendment to the Broadcasting Act was steady. In 2019, Ha Tae-kyung and Yoo Sang-beom, members of the People's Power, raised issues, but were blocked by the National Assembly Standing Committee each time. In addition, the past amendments revealed limitations in that they were in the form of self-regulation by broadcasting companies.
The key to this amendment is the addition of the 'Viewer Vote Manipulation' item. In case of violation, a penalty of 2% or less of sales may be imposed. In the case of CJ ENM, considering its sales of 4.8 trillion won last year, a penalty of up to 96 billion won can be imposed.
The purpose of this amendment is to prevent the possibility of manipulation of the audition program. Previously, 'fairness controversy' was raised several times, and the illegal acts of those involved in the case were actually revealed.
Producer Ahn Joon-young of Mnet was sentenced to two years in prison for manipulating rankings in the audition program 'Produce 101' series. However, PD Ahn, the actual instigator, was re-entered. It was a choice that did not fit the public eye. Afterwards, CJ ENM officially apologized for "not meeting the level of fairness", but criticism is still coming out.
'Produce X 101' Kim Yong-beom CP (executive producer) was also sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison in 2021 for ranking manipulation. CP Kim is known to have returned to CJ ENM's global project after being released from prison last year. A plan to block voting manipulators from re-entering the broadcasting company was also reviewed, but the bill was not enacted because it violates the freedom to choose a job.
Due to the bad precedent, the public's distrust of the audition program has deepened. The direction of other broadcasting companies after the 'Produce 101 manipulation incident' also played a role.
TV Chosun's 'Mr. Trot 2' was engulfed in suspicion of 'push' after it was revealed that one of the cast members was a junior directly under the same agency as the judges after the third episode of the broadcast. In the same broadcasting company's program 'National Singer', fraudulent voting using illegal accounts by some fans was also discovered.
MBN'Burning Trotman' was suspected of providing tickets to participate in the finals to a fan club of a specific performer. Here, even the 'winner's internal policy' came out, and he suffered.
The most important thing in an audition program is fairness and transparency. It is evaluated inside and outside the industry that the broadcasting company has missed the time to restore trust on its own as a large-scale manipulation has already occurred. The key question is whether distrust can be resolved through this amendment.
Reporter Yoon Jun-ho, Ten Asia delo410@tenasia.co.kr