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South Korea beef protests
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Posted June 13, 2008
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MBC’s <PD Note> Goes to Court
Brain-Washing Propaganda Produced and Broadcast by MBC MBC's Goes to Court MBC Refuses to Air Corrections Regarding Mad Cow Disease Coverage Reported by Shin, Dong-heun (dhshin@chosun.com) +(the source of the original Korean article: http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2008/06/03/2008060301563.html)+ Korea's Press Arbitration Committee ruled that MBC should air "corrections" regarding their highly controversial commentary "Critical Report! US Beef - Is it free from Mad Cow Disease?" which was aired as part of their PD Note program. But MBC has refused to cooperate and now they, and the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries are taking the case to court. Press Arbitration Committee officials announced on the 3rd, that according to their regulations "MBC should have aired corrections on the 27th, the first broadcast slot after the decision was made by the Committee." "But having refused to do so," the official said, "We have proceeded according to the regulations and filed all supporting documents with the Southern District Court of Seoul on the 2nd." The decision and subsequent announcement by the Press Arbitration Committee follows their ruling on the 19th that the PD Note aired by MBC in April made several unproven allegations about the risk of mad cow disease in US Beef. Therefore, the Committee ordered MBC to tell viewers that: there was no evidence that the downers shown during the program had mad cow disease; an investigative report confirmed that Aretha Vinson did not die from the human form of mad cow disease; and that the MM pattern found in the DNA of a majority of Koreans is not the only factor that determines the probability of developing mad cow disease. Immediately after this decision was announced, MBC filed an objection with the Committee. ..................................................................................................... MBC's Fabrications the Worst in the History of Korean Journalism MBC's inflammatory reports used the suggestion that animal feed was still being fed to cattle in the US On April 29, 2008, MBC aired its expose on PD Note, which caused instant panic amongst Koreans. During the program, MBC manipulated video clips to make viewers believe that the downers in the video - cows that had collapsed and were unable to move under their own power - had the disease. In the same program, an American woman said that there was a possibility that her daughter had CJD, but the Korean caption said "there is a possibility that my daughter has vCJD." A news segment by an American broadcasting company, which was used as part of the same show, reported "we cannot say that she actually has the human form of mad cow disease," but MBC manipulated this segment to support their allegations. The PD Note host identified the downer that was shown in a video clip as ‘a cow with mad cow disease' when in fact there was no proof that it was infected. Excerpts from an Editorial in the Chosun Daily News (chosun.com) ; < Press Arbitration Committee announces that two major reports concerning a downer that MBC said had mad cow disease and a young American lady who MBC said was dying of a confirmed case of vCJD were not true. The statements, which were presented during MBC's PD Note program, set off nationwide protests against US beef and resulted in the PAC ordering MBC to air corrections for their viewers. Despite the panic they have caused, the broadcaster is refusing to honor the ruling of the Press Arbitration Committee. It is hoped that MBC will regain some sense of integrity and professionalism by accepting the ruling, admitting the statements were false, and apologizing.> MBC's News Desk, which aired the next day, was worse than PD Note. The report about mad cow disease during the evening news program for April 30 was full of exaggerations and misrepresentations. MBC quoted four professors solely for the purpose of making the risk of mad cow disease seem greater than it is. The segment by Shin Jae-won who specializes in reporting on medical issues was the most inflated and distorted. The following is the opening statement from his report. MBC (Shin Jae-won): If cattle are raised on animal feed as they are in the US, normal prion transforms into variant prion, which destroys the brain tissue and the cow develops mad cow disease. If humans eat the beef that came from this cow, he or she becomes infected with the human form of mad cow disease." This easily refuted statement shows how facts have been distorted and fabricated to scare viewers to the maximum. The first lie is that animal feed is still allowed in the US, the second is that all cows fed animal feed develop mad cow disease, and the third is that humans become infected with mad cow disease if they eat the meat of those cows. The tidal wave of fear unleashed by this report has caused everyone from young students to housewives to distrust the US and Korean governments. ..................................................................................................... MBC's reports about the dangers of eating US beef sparked a flood of rumors and myths about the risk of mad cow disease. The Korean Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, alarmed at the mushrooming rumors and outrageous myths being circulated, finally compiled all the misinformation about mad cow disease, and released the list along with facts and explanations to dispel the alarm. The following myths compiled by the ministry are only a small portion of the hundreds of false stories spread among the public. Most of these myths originated with MBC. Myth * You will be infected with mad cow disease if you use any of the 600 products, including cosmetics, women's sanitary pads, or baby diapers that are being manufactured with materials that came from infected cows. * Even the tap water you wash utensils with will be contaminated by the knife and cutting board that you used to slice meat from an infected cow. * About 95% of Koreans have DNA structure that is especially vulnerable to mad cow disease. * In America, beef from cows that are over 30 months of age are not even used for pet foods such as dog and cat chow. * The beef Americans consume is not the same as the beef Americans are exporting to Korea. * There are about 5 million Alzheimer patients in the US now, of which 250,000 to 650,000 are suspected of actually having the human form of mad cow disease. * You will develop mad cow disease even if you eat only boneless beef. * You can catch mad cow disease just by kissing. Further Distortions by MBC's PD Note MBC also reported: "99% of cases of mad cow disease that were identified occurred in cattle that were over 30 months old."; "In the US, beef is classified into eight grades, but the beef from cattle that is more than 24 months old is not sold in the market even as the lowest grade of beef." How a congressman's statement about beef has been distorted MBC actually admitted that they erred in quoting a congressman's statement about the risk of mad cow disease and aired a correction on May 27. MBC stated in that correction: "MBC quoted congressman Shim Jae-chul as saying "it is safe to use cuts of beef from cattle with mad cow disease," however, the original statement made by the congressman was "Even if a cow has mad cow disease, the meat is safe as long as the SRM parts are removed." Did this correction end the controversy over the congressman's statement? No. Many viewers, who had already been brainwashed into fearing for their lives by MBC, began claiming MBC's correction actually proved how wrong the congressman was in saying that US beef is safe. Even a news article reported that, "the congressman's actual statement was proof none of the meat is safe, even after the SRM parts are removed." This makes no sense at all. How anyone could possibly get that interpretation from what was a very clear statement, I don't know, but that was the report by Newsis, as you can confirm in this Newsis article in Korean: (http://bloggernews.media.daum.net/news/1225292)
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- south_korea,
- beef,
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