Kim Ou-joon, an outspoken liberal broadcaster, said Monday he will stop hosting a controversial program on the Seoul city government-affiliated Traffic Broadcasting System (TBS) by the end of this year.
The presidential office said Tuesday that it sued a former lawmaker from the minor opposition Justice Party on charges of spreading false claims that a fortune teller was involved in the relocation of the presidential residence.
Acerbic liberal journalist Kim Ou-joon, who s been hosting the country s controversial radio news show “News Factory” on TBS for the past six years, now poses the biggest threat to the fate of not just his show but also the company.
Traffic Broadcasting System (TBS) is once again at the center of controversy, as Seoul Metropolitan Council passed an ordinance enabling the Seoul Metropolitan Government to cut off its financial support for its affiliated radio station starting in 2024, amid claims of political bias in its popular left-leaning news program “Kim Ou-joon s News Factory.” Given that the station relies on the support of the local government for an average of 70 percent of its annual budget, concerns are arising that the cut is essentially a threat to the station s existence.