한국의 방송 저널리즘과 정치 : 공정성을 중심으로

Abstract

The goal of this study is to evaluate broadcasting journalism in Korea as the basis of fairness. Although fairness is a multi-dimensional concept, the study pays attention to the autonomy as the absolute ingredient in the realization of fairness. A variety of political views and diversified social values have led to the conflicts of interest in the society. Journalism which deals with the social conflicts can not be free from the market since media organizations pursue their own target audiences. Daily newspapers targeting above middle-class exclude the people in the lower-class in the market while television is more likely to include minority groups to reach maximum viewers. On the other hand, politically progressive people who are excluded from the daily newspaper and television markets would move to the Internet, because the Internet has the lower entry barrier. Under these circumstances, each medium pursuing different target market is likely to cause the problem of fairness. Because diverse social groups have different social values, they judge fairness based on their own values. Especially when the different political groups collide in self-interest, the conflict is more obvious and the disagreement on fairness is unavoidable because each media organization reflects its own target market. Thus, in spite of flurry debates about fairness in journalism, evaluation of fairness is arbitrary and the agreement of fairness seems to be an elusive goal in the diversified society. I contend, however, that the emphasis on autonomy from the external and the internal pressure, which is the core value of the freedom of the press, will contribute to reshape the framework for evaluation of fairness in journalism.