(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Hwang Jae-ha = Members of the Democratic Party of Korea, which holds two-thirds of the total seats in the 12th Seoul City Council, proposed a resolution urging the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Mayor Oh Se-hoon to normalize TBS broadcasting.
TBS has been on the brink of closure since the support from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, on which it depended for most of its budget, was abolished. However, it is trying to normalize its operations, but there are still many tasks that need to be solved to achieve this.
According to the Seoul City Council on the 17th, all 80 Democratic Party members proposed a resolution urging the normalization of TBS at the Seoul Media Foundation on the 10th of this month, which is scheduled to be reviewed by the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, the relevant standing committee.
The resolution criticized, “The People Power Party of the 11th Seoul City Council and Mayor Oh Se-hoon committed political violence by abolishing the ordinance and removing the designation as a contributing organization, and drove TBS to its death.”
He also claimed, “The 36-year-old suffocation of public broadcasting under the pretext of controversy over a specific program is a major disaster that will go down in the history of media oppression in the Republic of Korea,” adding, “Since the new military regime of Chun Doo-hwan forcibly merged TBC, the shameful history of public power taking the lead in abolishing broadcasting companies has been repeated.”
The resolution urged Mayor Oh to recognize the consequences of the decision that led to TBS's existential crisis and not evade responsibility.
In addition, the city of Seoul was urged to consult with the city council on a roadmap for normalization, including re-designation of contributing organizations, enactment of support ordinances, and financial support measures, and to prepare measures to guarantee the right to survival and employment stability of TBS members who have not received wages for a long time.
In addition, he urged the city, along with the city council, to improve the system that guarantees publicness, independence, and sustainability so that the existence of public broadcasting is not repeatedly threatened due to the political judgment of local governments.
Since the Democratic Party holds 80 seats, or two-thirds of the total 118 seats in the city council, it is certain that the resolution will pass the plenary session in the future.
It was pointed out that TBS' 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory', which was first aired in 2016 when former Mayor Park Won-soon was in office, was politically biased.
Such criticism emerged in earnest after Mayor Oh was elected through a by-election in 2021, and the following year, when the People Power Party won the majority of the city council, an ordinance was passed to abolish Seoul City's support for TBS.
The abolition ordinance took effect in June 2024, and in September of that year, the status of Seoul City-funded organization was lifted, and the legal basis for Seoul City's support of TBS completely disappeared.
As support from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which had depended on about 70% of the total budget, was abolished, normal management became impossible.
Accordingly, TBS applied to change the Articles of Incorporation to attract external funds such as commercial advertisements, but it was rejected by the Korea Communications Commission (currently the Korea Communications Commission) in 2024.
The Korea Media and Communications Commission, which was launched after the Lee Jae-myung administration took power, allowed commercial advertising in April of this year in consideration of TBS's management difficulties, but it is difficult to immediately resolve the deficit that has already accumulated over the years.
According to what Acting CEO Joo Yong-jin revealed during a visit by Democratic Party members of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee at the end of last month, TBS has a total debt of 16.9 billion won, including 7.2 billion won in labor costs, and three months' worth of transmission fees and four major insurance premiums are also unpaid.
Mayor Oh Se-hoon sent a letter to the city council appealing to extend support to buy time for TBS to become self-reliant in 2024.
Since then, TBS has shown its stance that the country should only be prevented from being shut down, such as saying that it would help in any way possible to help TBS find a way to help itself.
Recently, Mayor Oh recommended two members recommended by the mayor to the TBS Executive Recommendation Committee, and the formation of the Executive Recommendation Committee to appoint a CEO who has been vacant for more than two years has been completed.
As such, the city council is strongly urging normalization, and with Mayor Oh's cooperation, the CEO appointment process is on track, but there are a lot of problems that need to be resolved until TBS is normalized.
In order for TBS to regain its status as a Seoul Metropolitan Government-sponsored organization, it must either confirm that the cancellation of the designation is invalid or go through a re-designation process, but both are not easy.
Some employees and the union filed an administrative lawsuit to confirm that the cancellation of the designation was invalid, but the decision was dismissed in the first trial on the grounds that the plaintiff was not qualified.
In order to receive re-designation, it must be examined whether there are grounds for re-designating a contributing institution that has been de-designated under the Local Investment and Contribution Act.
Even if its status as a contributing organization is restored and support ordinances are re-established, the problem of how to resolve the enormous debt that TBS has remains.
As the debt was accumulated during the period when city support was abolished, it is unclear whether Seoul City will be able to assume this debt.
Regarding this, an official from the Seoul Metropolitan Government explained, "There is a need for a legal review to see if it will be a problem if the Seoul Metropolitan Government bears TBS' debt."
