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MBC provoked fresh ire from supporters of cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk
on Thursday night when its flagship ¡°News Desk¡± reported more
allegations against the geneticist. The broadcaster earlier suffered
mass cancellation of advertising during its ¡°PD Diary¡± program after
the current affairs show reported in depth on ethical flaws in
procurement of human egg cells for Hwang¡¯s research. The ¡°News Desk¡± homepage was inundated with complaints about the
report on Friday, with some viewers proposing a boycott of advertisers¡¯
products similar to the one that cost ¡°PD Diary¡± its sponsorship. This
week¡¯s ¡°PD Diary¡± was commercial- free. Advertisers are wringing their hands. In a meeting on Friday
afternoon, some discussed not selling commercials on MBC for the time
being to prevent their corporate image being hurt. Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance and other firms that had
booked commercial slots said they were swamped with phone calls from
angry viewers since Friday morning. Kiturami Boiler said it would not
renew its advertising contract with MBC, which expired in November.
Dongwon F&B said it will maintain its advertising contract with MBC
until December but then judge whether to extend it next month. The
Korea Broadcasting Advertising Corporation declined to reveal the list
of ¡°News Desk¡± sponsors even though it was circulating on the Internet
in order to protect the firms. Audience ratings for ¡°News Desk¡±, which reported on the Hwang
Woo-suk controversy only after the notorious ¡°PD Diary¡± episode,
dropped 1.4 percentage points to 6.9 percent from a week earlier.
Audience ratings for ¡°PD Diary¡± stood at a below-average 4.2 percent on
Nov. 22. Insiders say MBC¡¯s audience ratings plummet whenever it
reports Hwang-related issues. (englishnews@chosun.com )
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