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| The homepage for "Kim Ou-joon's News Factory." Calls have grown to remove him from the program for allegedly biased comments favoring the ruling bloc. / Captured from TBS website |
By Kim Rahn
Calls are mounting to remove left-wing radio show host Kim Ou-joon of the Traffic Broadcasting System (TBS) for his alleged politically biased comments siding with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), especially during the April 7 mayoral by-election campaign period.
More than 167,000 people have signed an online petition on the Cheong Wa Dae website, as of Monday afternoon, since the petition was posted last Friday, to call for his removal as the host of TBS's "Kim Ou-joon's News Factory" program.
Kim, a journalist and commentator on political affairs, rose to fame in the early 2010s when he and three others operated a podcast named, "Naneun Kkomsuda," that was filled with critical and satirical comments about conservative then-President Lee Myung-bak. Since September 2016, he has hosted News Factory every day on weekdays on TBS, a broadcaster established by the city of Seoul to provide traffic information but which also features news, current affairs and various entertainment programs.
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| An online petition was posted on the Cheong Wa Dae website, Friday, to call for removal of Kim Ou-joon from his radio program on TBS. It gained more than 167,000 signatures as of Monday. Screenshot from the Cheong Wa Dae website |
"TBS should exist to prevent traffic chaos by providing real-time traffic information of Seoul. But he openly supports a specific political party and criticizes politicians or parties of the opposite political inclination, thus deeply intervening in elections and politics," the petitioner wrote.
"Although public opinion is intensifying to replace Kim, he is responding by saying that it is discrimination. It's been a long time that the traffic broadcasting has become political broadcasting which supports a specific political party. Is it discrimination to correct a traffic broadcast that has degenerated like that?"
Cheong Wa Dae is required to make an official response to petitions that get more than 200,000 signatures in 30 days.
During the campaign period, Oh sarcastically commented, "TBS has its own purpose of establishment: providing traffic information. Kim Ou-joon may keep hosting the program, but he is advised to provide traffic information only."
Now with Oh in office, attention is on whether the new mayor will try to bring changes to TBS.
However, many say it will not be easy, considering that TBS is no longer a city government-affiliated broadcaster: in February of last year, a separate foundation managing the broadcaster was set up. So the city government does not have the right to interfere in TBS's personnel affairs.
Some say that Oh may take advantage of his authority regarding the broadcaster's budget, because TBS is not yet financially independent from the city government, and more than 70 percent of its revenue comes from the city, as TBS provides regular traffic information on its behalf.
However, although Oh may try to cut TBS' budget, his plan will require approval from the city council, where 101 out of 109 councilors are from the ruling DPK.
Mindful of the controversy, Kim said, April 8, the day after the by-election, he will keep hosting the show regardless of Oh's victory, saying that TBS is run by a separate foundation independent of the Seoul mayor's influence.
