On January 23, the Internet Election News Deliberation Commission within the National Election Commission held the first deliberation meeting in 2014, where it issued a ‘warning’ and ‘caution’ to 29 Internet media companies that had done unfair news coverage in relation to 6^th Nationwide Local Elections.

According to the IENDC, Article 108 Clause 4 of the Public Official Election Act stipulates anyone seeking to conduct an election survey shall select surveyees representing the entire survey target. 6 Internet media companies including the Shinailbo (shinailbo.co.kr) were issued a strict ‘warning’ for violating Article 8 of the Public Official Election Act and undertaking a survey not representing the entire survey target and delivering the outcomes that might mislead voters.  

In addition, according to Article 108 Clause 5 of the Public Official Election Act, anyone seeking to report the outcomes of election surveys shall also announce or report the following information:

·       Names of a client and a survey agency/organization;

·       How the surveyees were selected;

·       Sample sizes;

·       Surveyed areas;

·       Date and method for survey;

·       Sampling error, response rate, etc.

5 Internet media companies including the Poli News (polinews.co.kr) that had violated the above law by omitting all or some of the information were issued a ‘caution’ while 21 Internet media companies including the Premium Chosun (premium.chosun.com) that had omitted the ‘response rate’ were issued a ‘request for fair coverage’.

As of January 24, 2014, the IENDC has dealt with 76 cases of unfair news coverage in relation to the 6^th Nationwide Local Election, 73(93%) of which relate to unfair coverage of public surveys. The media companies are kindly requested to present the requirements for announcement and the ‘response rate’ in particular in compliance with the Public Official Election Act when reporting the outcomes of surveys on public official elections.