The Citizens United for Fair Press (CUFP) urged Naver to correct the political bias in its news affiliate selection process.

CUFP announced a statement on the 23rd, stating that securing fairness and political balance in the affiliate selection process is urgent, as new content and search affiliate reviews are currently underway by Naver's News Affiliate Review Committee.

CUFP specifically mentioned that the former News Affiliate Evaluation Committee suspended its activities in 2023 due to controversies regarding fairness, transparency, and political bias in its composition, pointing out that "the current structure replacing it also lacks public oversight."

Currently, portal service providers like Naver and Kakao each operate their own news affiliate review committees, making public management even more difficult, according to CUFP.

CUFP also cited a survey by the Korea Press Foundation, stating that Naver News holds a market share of approximately 95%, emphasizing the importance of securing fairness in affiliate selection as Naver effectively functions as public press infrastructure.

In addition, CUFP claimed that its own analysis of the political leanings of 87 Naver Content Providers (CPs) revealed 19 left-leaning and 10 right-leaning media outlets.

CUFP's position is that the "asymmetrical structure," with nearly twice as many left-leaning media outlets, can influence news exposure and lead to the distortion of public opinion.

Problems were also raised regarding specific media outlets. CUFP pointed out that some media outlets, including MBC, Media Today, Newstapa, The Journalists Association of Korea, No Cut News, OhmyNews, and Pressian, are at the center of portal news distribution despite sharing a particular orientation.

CUFP also cited the fact that qualitative evaluation accounts for 50% of the newly introduced news affiliate review criteria as a problem. CUFP argued that "the proportion of qualitative evaluation, which has a large room for subjective judgment, is excessive," and that "the structure where portals hold the power of life and death over media companies can be strengthened."

CUFP expressed "deep concern that portals are unilaterally proceeding with affiliate selection without public oversight" and emphasized that "the results of this affiliate review must be in the direction of correcting the current political bias."

They added, "If the results go in the opposite direction, we will mobilize all forces with civic groups," and called for the establishment of an on-site inspection and management system by public organizations related to broadcasting and communications.

Meanwhile, the new content and search affiliate review by the Naver News Affiliate Review Committee, which began accepting applications in March, will undergo affiliate review in April and operational evaluation in May, with results expected to be announced in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

By Reporter Lim Yo-hee