South Korea's Free Press Goes To Jail

Amnesty International claims Roh Jong-myun's arrest was part of “an increasingly concerted effort by the government to control South Korea’s media”. It says that last year the heads of four other media groups—the state-owned Korea Broadcasting System (the country’s largest television station), Korean Broadcasting Advertising Corporation, Arirang TV and Sky Life—were replaced by government supporters.

SHOOT: The Koreans arrested and detained one of their own for expressing his opinion on a blog. Conspiracy buffs who like to think that the media are in the governments pocket will love this. The media up until now has also been content to simply broadcast what it is told - without insight or interpretation, which makes it completely open to abuse, editorial independence or not. Any media that does not interpret data is not finding the angle behind the angle and that is a disservice to the public.

clipped from www.economist.com The ruling Grand National Party is now debating whether to make it a crime to post inaccurate or misleading information on the internet. A blogger, Park Dae-sung, was arrested in December after being rude about the government’s economic management. He is still in jail. “Every journalist in South Korea is fearful right now,” says PD Notebook’s Mr Lee.