l  The Internet Election News Deliberation Commission hosted the 14^th deliberative session on December 11 where it took action against 3 Internet media companies by issuing a “warning” and “request for fair coverage”that had done unfair coverage of the 6^th Local Elections.

l  The IENDC had earlier disseminated newsletters and guidelines to promote and encourage the compliance with relevant regulations when it had taken measures on October 23 against 39 Internet media companies not compliant with the requirements for announcing survey outcomes on election prescribed by the Public Official Election Act. The IENDC, however, expressed its concern over repeated violations and asked the relevant Internet media for fair news coverage.

l  The IENDC issued a “request for fair coverage” to Chungcheong Today (cctoday.co.kr) and Kyeonggi News (kgnews.co.kr) that had violated Article 8 & Article 108, Clause 5 of the Public Official Election Act by not presenting the “response rate” upon the announcement and coverage of survey outcomes on election.

l  Moreover, the IENDC issued a “warning” to Yeoju Times (yeojutimes.com) that had violated Article 8 of the Public Official Election Act. Yeoju Times had delivered news on the 6^th Local Elections with the exaggerated title “Highest Winning Rate” while quoting news stories from other media companies about the prospective candidates actually within the margin of error, causing a favorable/unfavorable impact on specific prospective candidates.

l  According to Article 8 of the Public Official Election Act, the media must observe its duty to do fair news coverage. Furthermore, Article 108, Clause 5 of the above-mentioned Act stipulates that the standards for announcing survey outcomes which ensure objectivity and reliability (how surveyees are selected, rate of sampling error, response rate, etc.) shall be presented in the case of the media covering survey outcomes on election.

l  Up to December 12 the IENDC has taken measures against approximately 40 Internet media companies that violated the law while delivering survey outcomes on the 6^th Local Elections. According to the IENDC, the “Task Force Team against Illegal Surveys on Election” has been launched within the NEC and 17 Si/Do Election Commissions since October 1 to intensively monitor for and crack down on illegal surveys on election. The IENDC once again requested the Internet media companies to obey the Public Official Election Act while delivering and announcing survey outcomes on election.