Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, April 08, 2003
S. Korean Newspaper Day Marked in Seoul
A ceremony was held Monday evening at downtown Seoul's Korea Press Federation building to mark Korea's Newspaper Day, and criticisms were voiced of the government's views of the print media.
A ceremony was held Monday evening at downtown Seoul's Korea Press Federation building to mark Korea's Newspaper Day, and criticisms were voiced of the government's views of the print media.
The chairman of the Korea News Editors Association, Choi Kyu-cheol, said in his opening speech that the press had a hard road ahead, based on President Roh Moo-hyun's opinion that the print media is "a dangerous power that is neither regulated nor verified" and that "it constantly persecuted the Kim Dae-jung administration for the past five years."
Choi, mentioning this year's slogan for the industry - "Newspapers that are fair to the readers and media that are unafraid of historical judgments" - said, "As the slogan indicates, we should pay attention to readers' evaluations and historical judgments."
Hong Seok-hyun, chairman of the Korean Newspapers Association and president of the daily JoongAng Ilbo, said that newspapers could overcome the crisis by maintaining their credibility and influence. "Newspapers should accurately check and criticize the authorities, but they should refrain from criticizing for the sake of criticizing," he said. "Erroneous reports should be decisively corrected."
President Roh Moo-hyun participated in a reception held after the ceremony.