KBS staffers commence large-scale union strike

65 May 29, 2014

by javabeans

There’s trouble brewing over at KBS, where a strike is underway in response to recent accusations that its president, Gil Hwan-young, interfered with the station’s reporting and influenced coverage that skewed favorably toward the government and President Park Geun-hye’s administration. Among the accusations are complaints of poor or biased coverage of last month’s Sewol ferry sinking disaster.

A good 80 percent of KBS’s staffers belong to one of two labor unions, whose combined numbers amount to roughly 4,600 workers. The unions had been threatening to strike and demanding that the station dismiss Gil from his post, and when the planned vote to decide upon Gil’s dismissal was postponed, union members proceeded with the strike on the morning of Thursday, May 29. This is the first time since KBS’s inception that both unions have gone on strike simultaneously.

KBS is a state-funded broadcast station, and the signs being held by strikers read: “KBS is the broadcaster of the citizens.” Union workers are clamoring for a return to fair, independent reporting free of political agenda or meddling.

With such a large number of its staff participating in the strike, you can imagine what a crunch this puts on, well, the entirety of KBS’s operations. The union membership includes crew members, on-air talent and more, and a strike has a huge effect on many (most?) areas of the station, from news programs to variety shows to drama production teams. All of its main news anchors, for instance, are now participating in the strike. Substitutes have been called in, although with more than 80 announcers out and a mere 10 producers and executives left to carry the workload, the situation seems rather severe.

KBS itself has declared that the strike is illegal and violates company rules, because the reasons driving the strike are not related to labor conditions. It stated that it would pursue charges vigorously, but pressure is mounting (and public scrutiny as well) toward Gil to resign or be fired.

From a schedule standpoint, one of KBS’s most pressing concerns is the upcoming World Cup, because its sports reporting desks are currently empty. Which isn’t to say it’s any easier on the scripted programming front, with dramas like Jung Do-jeon (the popular weekend sageuk) and Wonderful Season (its weekend family drama) being forced to cease shoots.

At the moment, Monday-Tuesday drama Big Man is still filming, as is the drama that will follow it, Trot Lovers. In the case of Wonderful Season, the production team has stated that it will air normally this weekend, but it’s not clear whether the strike will force it off the air after that point. The board vote to oust Gil has been rescheduled to June 5, so it’s possible the strike will continue through the first week of June.

But news and variety appear to be hit hardest. I suppose that dramas can continue running on a skeleton staff behind the scenes if actors aren’t part of the unions mentioned, but variety programs are crippled without their PDs and writers (not to mention editors, filming crews, and so on).

In-Depth 60 Minutes has already been pre-empted/postponed, and the documentary program Three Days likely have to follow suit. News and radio shows are scrambling for substitutes.

Via Herald, Star News, E Daily

RELATED POSTS

Tags: drama production

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1 y

May 29, 2014 at 4:06 PM

Ong

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2 Javabeans

May 29, 2014 at 4:07 PM

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, Ask A Korean has a pretty amazing in-depth analysis of the Sewol disaster, which ties together the government's role in regulating (and deregulating) the industry which had a clear impact on the lead-up to the Sewol sinking.
http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-sewol-tragedy-part-i-accident.html
http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-sewol-tragedy-part-ii-causes-and.html?spref=tw

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Arhazivory

May 29, 2014 at 4:44 PM

Wow. I knew there was incompetence but this analysis is really an eye opener. So sad. :(

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;)

May 29, 2014 at 4:49 PM

Thanks for the link. I read some of it. Shocking news.

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Chandler

May 29, 2014 at 5:34 PM

Wow. I straight-up cried some very angry tears reading that. Horrible.

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windsun33

May 29, 2014 at 5:54 PM

To be fair, not all of that was "the government" - a lot of it is due to the failures of the Korean Legislature and past leadership. There are still a lot of entrenched but mostly obsolete bureaucracies left over from as far back as the Korean war - and just like the hundreds of tiny Post offices in the US, are retained as "favorship".

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windsun33

May 29, 2014 at 6:07 PM

I would note that that same bureau that blurs out paring knives but allow chain saw massacres on TV is one of those.

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postoffice fan

May 29, 2014 at 6:30 PM

I hope you are not suggesting that post offices in small towns are obsolete. My experience leads me to be convinced that they are vital.

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windsun33

May 29, 2014 at 8:22 PM

In one town in Iowa, there are two post offices less than 3 miles apart. Neither does enough business to even pay the salary of a single employee. Yet congress will not allow them to merge.

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Shiku

May 30, 2014 at 6:16 AM

I don't think its about favorship. I think its about forcing the USPS to go into bankruptcy so that it can be privatized.

Quiet Thought

May 30, 2014 at 7:16 PM

The postal service in the United States is interesting, in that it is literally required by the constitution. The "Founding Fathers" considered keeping all the citizenry linked through the mails as being that important to maintaining a democracy.

While windsun is probably correct in that there are unnecessary post offices scattered around the country, the basic problem the USPS has had over the last twenty years is the relentless hostility of conservatives in congress. They don't want it to exist, but they cannot do away with it. They hate it because it is a government agency, because it is a government agency that serves all the public, not just "the better sort of people," the upper middle class and business interests, and because it is a solid bastion of union labor. So they've done their very best to sabotage it financially by burying it in arbitrary rules and passing regulations and laws to allow private parcel carriers to siphon off all of its high end services.

Ironically, the private services like Fed Ex and UPS both depend on the USPS as a deliverer of last resort for packages. I live in a rural area, though only a few miles out of a city, and I often receive UPS packages that have been routed through the post office because UPS does not always have scheduled delivery in my area.

Ultimately, and this is something fast-developing countries like Korea have had to deal with in the last half-century, a country has to decide if it is going include all the old rural villages and all the remote parts of the nation as part of modern society. In the United States, that meant providing postal services and public schools everywhere in the country, then it meant providing telegraph, road, and phone service everywhere, and then it meant providing rural electricity, county and regional hospitals, and, today, cell towers and high-speed Internet connections. These are all issues Korea and China and every other country in Asia and Africa are dealing with as the last generations of rural peasants aspire to become modern citizens.

yahnati

May 31, 2014 at 11:31 AM

That sounds more like a weird exception.

There was a pretty big hue and cry about a lot of small town post offices being backed down to really limited hours of operation, and in a lot of those small towns, they depend on the post office even more than usual because of limited (and usually overpriced) internet options.

I live in a state capital that's a reasonably sized city and is a couple of hours from at least one major metropolitan area and even we have seen reduced hours of operation for the post offices in the area.

Lord Byron

May 30, 2014 at 7:45 AM

Hey, the "Korean Legislature and past leadership" is still the government. I think you meant to say the current Administration.

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melody

May 30, 2014 at 2:35 AM

Thank you for the link DB

Sobbing as I reading it.

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Lord Byron

May 30, 2014 at 8:04 AM

Well, it must be true that misfortune comes in waves.

The Sewol sinking was quickly followed by a Seoul Metro subway collision (in which there still was no public announcement to evacuate or any rescue efforts by emergency personnel so that the passengers had to pry themselves out of the smoldering train) and then, a few days ago, by a fire in a senior hospice in which some 70 elderly patients + night nurse died (many of whom were reported to have been tied to their bedposts).

Even the New York Time editorial board added its two cents recently.

Three phrases keep turning up in all mea culpas: bballibballi, daechoongdaechoong, and swibgeswibge.

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Paula S

May 30, 2014 at 5:42 PM

Can you translate the last phrase, swibgeswibge? I'm not familiar with it. thanks!

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Grace

May 30, 2014 at 10:13 PM

I'm fairly sure it means something like "easily, easily."

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pogo - sailing HMS Queen of Tears and HMS Sailboat Lovely Runner🍉

May 31, 2014 at 8:53 AM

....after reading that, WOW.

No wonder South Korea's citizens are furious. The magnitude of the failure across the board to help those poor people is almost unbelievable, except for the part where it actually happened and now over 300 innocent victims paid the price. Especially those poor children.

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3 luvnlife

May 29, 2014 at 4:14 PM

This is pretty big news. I think it is great people are voicing their opinions. I am sure things are well thought out since it has been a few weeks since this story broke.

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4 yammy

May 29, 2014 at 4:16 PM

Although this would affect the broadcast of my current-favorite variety show, Superman Returns, I'm all for this strike. I wonder, however, if deposing the President will solve all if any of the problems. I might be remembering things incorrectly, but didn't a previous strike depose then president, or was that another broadcasting company? I guess it is hard to rally a strike over specific changes on the rules of the political influence.

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windsun33

May 29, 2014 at 5:55 PM

I think only way to REALLY fix it would be to privatized it, and doubt that will happen.

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houstontwin

May 29, 2014 at 6:21 PM

Private networks in the US are tremendously biased. I don't think that privatization is the answer.

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windsun33

May 29, 2014 at 6:25 PM

Being "biased" is not the same as following the government line. While some do - such as MSNBC, most others do not, to varying degrees.

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space kablooie

May 29, 2014 at 6:45 PM

depends on who's in the government, really.

bd5

May 29, 2014 at 7:50 PM

Well, there's toeing the corporate line i.e. - Murdoch) as opposed to toeing the govt. line.

Mia

May 29, 2014 at 10:23 PM

A compromising bias towards Big Business (Fox News) that follows privatization is not any less damaging than a compromising bias towards government.

windsun33

May 30, 2014 at 10:01 AM

@ Mia - the point is, there is more than one choice. If you only get your news from one source, that is not the sources fault.

Personally I use about 30 different sources, including about 20 from overseas.

Dakchigo

May 29, 2014 at 7:53 PM

I'm not sure what issue privatization would fix. At least, I understand government-FUNDED (not run) stations in theory (a nice example would be BBC). Takes off the pressure of needing $$$ to continue operations, which means they CAN (not they do in reality...) focus more on the quality. Have you noticed that even when KBS dramas rate really poorly (Full Sun rated lower than a cable drama), they don't cut their episode counts?

If the issue is about government bias... well, even privatized media have biases too! It's impossible for one not to have bias. The question is: who are you biased for? In this case, I hope that once the strike forces the current KBS president out, he'll be replaced by someone who's biased towards the interest of the people. I'm cynical in real life, so I'm not sure if there's a chance for reform, but we'll never know until we try. That for me is the essence of protest.

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Ppasun

May 29, 2014 at 8:47 PM

Lol. Love your username.

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5 Arhazivory

May 29, 2014 at 4:27 PM

On one hand, I'm sad because 1n2d will be off air but on the other....bigger....hand, I hope that they can get a positive outcome from this action. People Power...Yay!!!!

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6 Lulubell

May 29, 2014 at 4:28 PM

I really hope they can all come to an agreement peacefully. It's sad that things had to get to this point, but I'm glad that people are voicing their opinion as well. And KBS declaring that "the strike is illegal and violates company rules, because the reasons driving the strike are not related to labor conditions," I think the fact that these workers are uncomfortable with the work politic, which directly affects them is in fact a "labor condition."

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7 Quiet Thought

May 29, 2014 at 4:50 PM

Bravo, union workers. If they are supposed to be producing honest news and their news-boss is doing a Roger Ailes on them and warping coverage in favor of his political boss, that is certainly affecting working conditions. I only wish American networks had that kind of standards.

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8 risika199

May 29, 2014 at 4:57 PM

Comment was deleted

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Jaeminuf

May 29, 2014 at 5:10 PM

Infinity Challenge's Gil (Gil Seong-joon) isn't the same as Gil Hwan Young, the KBS president.

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risika199

May 29, 2014 at 10:58 PM

Comment was deleted

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gg

May 30, 2014 at 7:38 AM

LOL! for a moment i wondered what you were talking about heh

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9 risa

May 29, 2014 at 5:10 PM

I'm glad to see Beanies' support of the strike. We all hate for our fave shows to halt production, but "a return to fair, independent reporting free of political agenda or meddling" is something I think we should all get behind. I wish there were a way for international viewers to voice our support in a meaningful way. I've been following Korean news media every day since the Sewol sank~ it's a relief that at least this tragedy is catalyzing momentum to make some much needed changes.

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10 Faye

May 29, 2014 at 5:23 PM

It's interesting to see a strike not because of labor conditions or wages, but because of (allegedly) biased reporting. I wonder how much good it will do. In this country, at least, there isn't even a pretense of objectivity in the media. The major networks basically trumpet the administration's perspective on everything. In many cases the media gets their talking points directly from the government (I say this as someone who works for the government). There are a lot of marriages between execs at the networks and administration honchos.

In any case, getting back to Korea, I think I've become so jaded from all the evil, corrupt chaebols in dramas that it's hard to imagine this will make a difference. But one always remains at least a little hopeful. And it is heartening to see workers taking a stand together.

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windsun33

May 29, 2014 at 6:05 PM

In the US there is a lot more choice. And I would not say that CNN or Fox parrots the administration. But US reporting definitely has other issues.

But the situation in Korea is still in flux. People tend to forget that up until just 1987 that it was basically a semi-dictatorship. And just like in the dramas, there are factions to be appeased - in the example of KBS news, by avoiding any heavy criticism. It was only a few weeks ago that an Arirang reporter was "chided" for saying that prohibiting the use of Google Maps in Korea was basically stupid.

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Jaeminuf

May 29, 2014 at 9:57 PM

Aye aye. On all accounts.

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divyrus

May 30, 2014 at 4:38 AM

What reason in the world could prohibit use of Google maps !!!

I am genuinely perplexed ! Can you tell more please ?

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windsun33

May 30, 2014 at 10:03 AM

Google is your friend. Search for "google maps south korea" for the full story.

I suspect the rule will be tossed out soon, but as of now it still exists.

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11 Emma

May 29, 2014 at 5:39 PM

Nort Americans TV staffers should do the same too...

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windsun33

May 29, 2014 at 6:09 PM

Why, and against what network? Which network is state-owned in the US?

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Tena Chen

May 30, 2014 at 10:39 AM

There are no state-owned television or media outlets in the United States. We are a capitalist society. Per Wikipedia, "Capitalism generally refers to economic system where the means of production are largely or entirely privately owned and operated for a profit, structured on the process of capital accumulation. In general, investments, distribution, income, and prices are determined by markets."

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Tena Chen

May 30, 2014 at 10:48 AM

Anglo-Saxon model
Main article: Anglo-Saxon economy

Anglo-Saxon capitalism refers to the form of capitalism predominant in Anglophone countries and typified by the economy of the United States. It is contrasted with European models of capitalism such as the continental Social market model and the Nordic model. Anglo-Saxon capitalism refers to a macroeconomic policy regime and capital market structure common to the Anglophone economies. Among these characteristics are low rates of taxation, more open financial markets, lower labor market protections, and a less generous welfare state eschewing collective bargaining schemes found in the continental and northern European models of capitalism.[8]
East Asian model
Main articles: State-sponsored capitalism and Developmental state

The East Asian model of capitalism is based on a strong role for state investment, and in some cases, state-owned enterprises. The state takes an active role in promoting economic development through subsidies, facilitation of "national champions", and an export-based model of growth.

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Quiet Thought

May 30, 2014 at 7:29 PM

"Public television" and "public radio" are, in theory, independent services in the United States.

The issue with the lack of independence of news media in the United States is complicated. Fox News, for instance, was founded by conservative activists to serve as a propaganda arm of conservative politics. Its president, Roger Ailes, is quite proud of having achieved that goal and forcing the other national news services to accept his carefully managed news output as an equal.

The more serious problem with the national news networks in the United States in that they are pretty much all "Beltway," that is, they are part of the same social and cultural circle as the politicians, lobbyists, and staffers who run the government. They take good care of the politicians they like and invite on their talk shows. They cover national stories in a very shallow way, avoiding scandals other than ones forced on them by other news outlets or that their politician buddies want to tell on each other. Their audiences are getting smaller and older over the last two decades as the larger share of the public has given up on them as anything but a headline service.

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12 Sojuboy

May 29, 2014 at 5:59 PM

I have absolutely no clue what Park's administration has to do with ferry disaster but these union thugs are doing nothing but destabalizing that country.

The Korean government better stamp out these type of illigal strike quickly before it turns into an other third world situation like Thailand, and lose Democracy altogether.

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windsun33

May 29, 2014 at 6:14 PM

Thugs?

You probably think that the Tiananmen square massacre was a good idea also.

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annie

May 29, 2014 at 8:37 PM

Actually, this kind of action by people standing up to speak against bias and undue government influence is the very essence of democracy - were the government to "stamp out" this strike, it would in fact be a step on the road to "lose Democracy altogether" and not vice versa.

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13 Aigoooo

May 29, 2014 at 6:22 PM

I can understand their frustration and I'm glad they are doing something about it. It's very difficult to find an un-biased media anywhere. Since KBS is government subsidized, putting out news that makes the government come out smelling like roses is not surprising. Imagine if you find out that Fox news are owned by democrats.. now that would be shocking! hehe

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windsun33

May 29, 2014 at 6:30 PM

Unbiased is not so much the issue. Pretty much any news outlet is going to have some bias, but bias is not the same as whitewashing the government because you are beholden to them to stay on the air.

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14 windsun33

May 29, 2014 at 7:06 PM

Another new article at NKwatch is pertinent in many ways to this article, and to some currently running dramas.

http://www.nknews.org/2014/05/wham-bam-nam-good-riddance-to-seouls-spy-chief/

For example: ".. And critics still want another Blue House head to roll. Kim Ki-choon, Park’s chief of staff, is accused by striking journalists at KBS of leaning on the state-run broadcaster – specifically its president Gil Hwan-young, whose ouster the angry KBS staffers also demand – to ease off on criticism of the government’s handling of the ferry disaster.."
and "..Her prime minister was the first casualty. Chung Hong-won tendered his resignation on April 27.." (I guess Doctor Stranger was too late to save him...).

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15 pogo - sailing HMS Queen of Tears and HMS Sailboat Lovely Runner🍉

May 29, 2014 at 8:06 PM

No wonder the staffers are angry, if they're forced to be complicit in whitewashing the government's role in this.

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16 Ppasun

May 29, 2014 at 8:18 PM

Gil should just resign and get it over with. And the next prez should work hard to give the KBS reporters more freedom. That being said, I have a problem with people like Sohn Seokhee as well, acting so holier than thou and pious, but milking that Sewol cow for all it's worth.

I get it, the crew, the ship owner, the government and their various agencies, society itself were all responsible. But in reality you cannot put them all in the court, so prosecute those who are primarily responsible and have legal liability but do not immobilize the government so it cannot do anything to change for the better.

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17 Valerie Gudorf

May 29, 2014 at 8:50 PM

Are the other two networks of the triumvirate also government subsidized? SBS and MBC.

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windsun33

May 30, 2014 at 10:08 AM

From Wikipedia The five nationwide television networks are KBS-1 and KBS-2 (public broadcast), MBC (run as a public organization), EBS (state-funded), and SBS (a commercial broadcaster).

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18 weekwand

May 29, 2014 at 10:41 PM

That's a HUGE poster of Golden Cross, so I guess the GC crews are also there, although it might be a coincidence...who knows.

I hope they get what they're fighting for and future condition will be better.

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Jesse

May 29, 2014 at 11:48 PM

That's not Golden Cross, but the drama Big Man.

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19 sister

May 29, 2014 at 10:54 PM

I hope everything will get better.. I hope they will still airing 1n2d.. my sunday is so gloomy without that show.. T__T

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20 Shado

May 30, 2014 at 12:12 AM

So, this explains why KBSWorld has been showing so many repeats? I was wondering why they've been replaying past episodes of variety programs and all.

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Rovi

May 30, 2014 at 4:42 AM

That's not the reason, stupid-dolt-that-is-way-behind-news.

The reason why they are airing replays was because of the Sewol ferry disaster when (the big 3) canceled all variety & music programs. Besides, the only programs airing replays are Gag Concert (soon to return I guess in 2 weeks) & Music Bank (which will not resume live broadcast until the "Music Bank in Brazil" on June 20)