South Korea Putting Its TV People In Jail; Wishing It Were So In USA?!!
If distortion and intentionally exaggerating were crimes if carried out on television in the United States, it is a pretty good bet that we'd have to lock up the likes of Glenn Beck and Chris Matthews and all the ladies on The View would have to be locked up too. And those are only the first ones that come to mind.
But in South Korea, those are crimes and they are arresting the television personnel responsible.
According to the JoongAng Daily, here's what's happening:
Four more MBC staff involved in the controversial “PD Diary” program about mad cow disease have been arrested, according to prosecutors.
The two producers, Cho Neung-hee and Song Il-jun, and two writers, Kim Eun-hee and Lee Yeon-hee, have been accused of intentionally exaggerating the health risks from U.S. beef in a controversial episode of “PD Diary” shown in April 2008.
The documentary is thought to have played a key role in inciting a groundswell of opposition to the government that took the form of mass rallies demanding that the government halt resumption of U.S. beef imports.
For more on the arrests, go here. The television journalists in South Korea apparently are able to mount a "freedom of the press" defense, and the station is not really backing off from its claims.
MBC was scheduled to air a sequel to the program that got it into so much trouble last night. The new episode, called “A Year After the Korea-U.S. Beef Deal,” asserts that the government’s beef deal prioritized political and economic benefits above concern for the people’s health.
You've got a couple more days to submit written comments to the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on the new so-called "BSE" rule requiring livestock renderers and animal feed manufacturers to remove the brain and spinal cord from cows 30 months and older.