On March 12, the Internet Election News Deliberation Commission within the National Election Commission held a ceremony for celebrating the 10^th anniversary of its establishment as well as a joint seminar with the Korea Broadcasting Commission through which it sought to assess its accomplishments in the last decade and to identify a direction for the Commission.

p Efforts made over the last decade to achieve the ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘fair election’

As the Internet media has had a bigger influence since 2000s, fairness of the Internet media, as in the newspaper, has been an important issue to be discussed. Such a social discussion has led to the establishment of the IENDC within the National Election Commission on March 12, 2004 for the purpose of maintaining fairness in the Internet election news coverage and relieving damage done to political parties and candidates.

The INEDC has ever since intensified its efforts to define the legal concept and boundaries of the Internet media companies for the first time that had no legal status at the time of its establishment in 2004 based on the then relevant law and to balance the freedom of speech and the value of fair election through deliberation that reflects medium characteristics of the Internet media.

The INEDC has also deliberated the following cases of objection raised since its establishment:

  2 cases of objection against unfair news coverage and raised by political parties/candidates in relation to the Presidential election;

  3 cases of objection against unfair news coverage and raised by political parties/candidates in relation to the National Assembly elections;

  2 cases of objection against unfair news coverage and raised by political parties/candidates in relation to local elections; and

  18 cases of objection against unfair news coverage and raised by political parties/candidates in relation to repeat/by-elections.

The INEDC has hosted 180 meetings of the Commission, and deliberated and taken action against 1,264 cases over the above-mentioned period to maintain fairness in election news coverage.

In addition, the INEDC has made continued efforts to lay the groundwork for fair election news coverage. It has worked in conjunction with such relevant agencies as the Korea Press Foundation and others for election-related laws/regulations and the standard for election news to be respected by providing 50 training programmes to approximately 1,000 journalists from the Internet media companies and relevant personnel. It has also arranged ways to minimize damage to political parties and candidates caused by unfair election news coverage through the hosting of an agreement ceremony for practice (on September 26, 2012) while stressing social responsibility as significant as influence by portal sites. The INEDC has in particular requested active roles of portal sites to achieve fair election by establishing a hotline system to communicate with news editors, providing them with cases of unfair election news and education on fair election news coverage on a regular basis, etc.

Meanwhile, the INEDC has been trying to hear opinion from all levels of society by constantly sponsoring academic seminars and professional discussions to develop the Internet media and an electoral culture. Efforts have also been made to continue deliberation that respects attributes of the Internet Press as a medium to promote expression and to establish a standard for deliberation that reflects technical features of the Internet.

p A ceremony and a seminar held to mark the 10^th anniversary of INEDC’s establishment

The INEDC held a ceremony for celebrating the 10^th anniversary of its establishment on March 12, where there were a report on the progress made over the last decade, opening remarks by the Chairperson of INEDC, congratulatory remarks by the Standing Commissioner of NEC, awards handed out to persons who made contributions to fair election news coverage, a presentation on the public promise made by the INEDC for the next decade, etc. Especially, a new CI and a slogan were introduced at the ceremony, including future-oriented values of the INEDC that is about to take a leap forward, marking the 10^th anniversary of its establishment.

Following the ceremony, a seminar was co-hosted by the INEDC and the Korea Broadcasting Commission under the theme of ‘Fairness of and Deliberation System for News Coverage of the 6^th Nationwide Local Elections’. The seminar – arranged to indentify a direction for the future – consisted of presentations by professors at different universities. The INEDC showed its determination to make endeavors to actively reflect suggestions made for improvements as well as issues raised in the seminar.

The INEDC expressed its hope that the efforts it has made over the last 10 years to balance the ‘freedom of speech’ and ‘fair election’ would serve as a steppingstone to the settlement of a culture of fair and useful election news coverage that assists voters in making a reasonable choice. The INEDC also said that it would do its best to maintain fairness of the Internet election news coverage and to protect the rights of political parties and candidates.