▲ Konkuk University Professor Hwang Yong-seok Wins the Korean Society for Media Law, Ethics and Policy's Cheolwoo Press Law Award
The Korean Society for Media Law, Ethics and Policy has selected a paper by Konkuk University Department of Media and Communication Professor Hwang Yong-seok and the Constitutional Court's ruling on the SBS "Unanswered Questions" report regarding a victim of child abuse as the recipients of the 25th Cheolwoo Press Law Award.
The Korean Society for Media Law, Ethics and Policy (President Choi Woo-jung) held the Cheolwoo Press Law Award ceremony and commemorative seminar at the press conference room on the 19th floor of the Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, today, August 20, and hosted the awards ceremony.
Marking its 25th anniversary this year, the Cheolwoo Press Law Award annually selects and honors outstanding papers and books that have contributed to media law research and the advancement of freedom of expression, as well as judicial precedents that have established new legal standards.
Selected as the winner in the paper and book category, Professor Hwang Yong-seok of Konkuk University's Department of Media and Communication wrote the paper titled "A Critical Review of the Judgment Structure of Fake News Regulation in the Digital Platform Environment," which was published in the journal "Media & Law" last April. The Cheolwoo Press Law Award Review Committee (Chairperson Lee Jae-jin) evaluated the research as having high academic completeness and policy contribution, noting that it not only systematically analyzes the conceptual and structural issues surrounding the regulation of fabricated disinformation, but also proposes specific policy alternatives.
In the judicial precedent category, the Constitutional Court's ruling (2023Hun-Ma1114) delivered on December 23 of last year regarding the SBS "Unanswered Questions" report on a child abuse victim was selected.
Regarding the 2021 broadcast by the production team of SBS "Unanswered Questions" that revealed the face and personal information of a child victim who died from abuse, prosecutors judged it to be a violation of the Child Abuse Punishment Act and issued a suspension of indictment. However, the Constitutional Court acknowledged the unconstitutionality of the disposition and revoked it.
Regarding this decision, the Cheolwoo Press Law Award Review Committee evaluated it as significant for establishing criteria that comprehensively consider specific circumstances—such as whether the victim survived, the purpose and method of the report, and the content of the disclosed information—rather than uniformly weighing the protection of the victim's personality rights against the public interest reporting function of the press.
Following the awards ceremony, a commemorative academic seminar for the Cheolwoo Press Law Award on the theme of "Application of AI-Generated Expressions and Legal/Ethical Issues," moderated by Dankook University Professor Chang Chul-jun, took place. Choi Min-geun, an MBC producer, delivered the first presentation on "New Content Production Methods for Humans and AI Created by AX," while Hwang Hyun-jung, a researcher at the Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI), gave the second presentation on "Audiovisual Media in the Generative AI Era: Content Ecosystem Changes and Policy Tasks."
The Korean Society for Media Law, Ethics and Policy plans to continue its academic discussions and ongoing research on major tasks in the field of media law, such as freedom of expression, the protection of personality rights, the public service role of the press, and the responsibilities of platforms and AI amid a rapidly changing media environment driven by the spread of digital platforms and generative AI.
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