The press is not the pet you think of

But now, the smudges on Lee’s finger block us from seeing the moon he wants us to see. Lee must stop the lame metaphor and just apologize.

Kim Hyun-kiThe author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo. As a pet owner, I’d like to refute Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung’s denouncement of the press as “pets” of the prosecution. First of all, most journalists are not as gentle as pet dogs. They do not wag their tail at the sight of snacks or howl or jump with glee upon seeing their human guardians. In fact, they can be very difficult.

Second, journalists can never be disciplined and domesticated. They first sniff at food with suspicion and bark at their owners if they are not happy with them. Third, journalists are not bred in a loving and caring environment. They are scolded and hard-trained by their seniors and editors and face strict judgement on their output instead of understanding. One factual error in their articles or reports can plague them for years. Finally, unlike pets, journalists are not liked by most people. They cannot be an agreeable breed due to the nature of their career requiring them to be ever-questioning, fault-finding and troublesome.

There cannot be any commonality between pet dogs and journalists. In other words, Lee’s address of the press as pet dogs cannot stand. To borrow his words, he distorted and misrepresented the profession by defining journalists as pets.

Why has Lee suddenly come up with the trope? Lee inherently distrusts the press. He agreed to a TV interview shortly before his imminent victory in the 2018 election for Gyeonggi governorship. When the anchor mentioned a scandal with an actress in the past, he shouted at his spokesman to cancel the interview for breaking an earlier agreement not to raise the issue. Lee yanked out his earpiece and cut the live interview short.

While watching the video, I was reminded of the first press conference Donald Trump gave in January 2017 as a president-elect. He devoted most of his time to lashing out at the media for their “fake” and “dishonest” coverage during the election trail. Trump pressed a CNN reporter to shut up, as he abhorred the news channel. He sneered at an NBC reporter for questioning his tax records. Bloomberg commented that the first news conference had been a “display of the chaos and bravado that defined his political career” and said it “foreshadows the tone for his term.”

I cannot help but put Lee in the same category as Trump. Lee barks at everyone he dislikes. He is biased about the media “colluding with the prosecution” to get him. I cannot imagine how far he would go when he commands the governing power, given the way he acts as head of the opposition.

Lee expressed “regret” if his comment insulted the media as a whole. It is his habit of retracting his own words and feigning apology. Why does he need to make a conditional statement if he really meant to apologize? Why can’t he simply apologize for framing the media in a certain way? It is no wonder the DP leader has been criticized for being sneaky. Lee said that words and phrases like watchdog, lapdog and guard dog are often used. The question is how and why the phrase is used about the press. His reference of “parrot” would have the same intention.

Lee asked the press to see the moon he is pointing to, not his finger, asking us to see the essence of his comment. I’d like to borrow a comment made by Rep. Jung Cheong-rae, one of his key aides, against the then-opposition, now-governing party four years ago. At that time, Jung said he could not see the moon as the dirty finger of the party got in the way. But now, the smudges on Lee’s finger block us from seeing the moon he wants us to see. Lee must stop the lame metaphor and just apologize.