Presidential Office Files Police Complaint Against Opposition Lawmaker for Spreading Fake News Against First Lady
This here is a perfect example of a lawmaker passing on fake news to attack the President’s wife with for political gain:
The presidential office filed a complaint with the police against main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Rep. Jang Kyung-tae for “spreading false information” about photos taken earlier this month during first lady Kim Keon-hee’s visit with a Cambodian child suffering a congenital heart disease. The presidential office complained that Jang had described the first lady’s photo shoot as a “concept shoot using at least two or three lights and other on-site studio-level equipment.”
Rep. Jang had stirred up debate over his remarks that Kim’s photo shoot amounted to “poverty porn,” or the exploitation of people in impoverished conditions to garner sympathy or support for a cause, and that it was a diplomatic discourtesy as she met the child instead of attending an official program organized at the same time for spouses of visiting world leaders. He is now under investigation by the National Assembly’s ethics committee.
The presidential office said it filed a complaint against Jang with the police for his remarks during a Nov. 18 DPK Supreme Council member meeting and subsequent Facebook posting. (……)During the meeting, Jang supported his claims, saying that “foreign media and photography experts analyze the photo of Kim Keon-hee as having been taken with at least two to three lights to create an on-site studio, as a concept photo shoot, rather than being a photograph taken of the natural volunteering process.” It later turned out he was citing a posting on the U.S.-based global web forum Reddit, which had since been deleted.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link.
To be fair, a lot of that “feed the world” stuff is staged, posed, and curated, no matter which side of the political aisle is doing it. But if you’re saying “foreign media and photography experts” when, in fact, your actual source is a hastily deleted Reddit post, then yeah, I can see why you might get investigated.
(I say “hastily” because the meeting was on November 18, and it’s November 23 as I write this, so a post that’s up for a maximum of 5 or 6 days qualifies as “hastily deleted” compared to something that sits online for years.)
If you were to look at the photos involved, and see the light and shadows it is obvious that lighting was used during the photo shoot.
Nothing wrong with that. The location was probably less than idea and the photographer probably decided to use some form of lighting to enhance the photos.
The DPK lawmaker in question probably tried to score some political points, which is what politicians do, no surprises there.
But, IMO the Presidential Office didn’t do a good job handling the matter, either.
Ever since the President bought in a new Senior Secetary for PR, it seems that the Presidential Office have adopted the policy of attacking those who make unfavorable news reports or such about the President and the First Lady.
However, that policy is backfiring badly in that a) it doesn’t help the current administration’s image and b) it brings in more unwanted and unneeded attention.
In this case, an acknowledgement that lighting was used because of a location with less than ideal lighting conditions and saying that this is common practice for all photography shoots would have turned this into a non-issue instead of the current mess.