Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) is the national public broadcaster in South Korea. Founded in 1927, KBS operates radio and television stations and runs a network of 18 regional channels.
Media assets
Television: KBS 1TV, KBS 2TV, KBS News D, KBS World
Radio: KBS 1Radio, KBS 2Radio, KBS 3Radio, KBS Classic FM, KBS Cool FM, KBS Hanminjok, KBS World Radio
State Media Matrix Typology: Independent Public (IP)
Ownership and governance
KBS was established as a public corporation through the Korean Broadcasting Act. The main governance structure at KBS is its Board of Governors consisting of 11 members who are recommended by the Korea Communications Commission, the country’s media regulator, and appointed by the President of the Republic.
A new procedure to appoint the President-CEO of KBS was introduced in 2018. As of that year, the President and CEO of KBS has been appointed after a process of public vetting. In 2018, KBS created a so-called Public Advisory Group consisting of independent professionals whose role is to check the suitability of the candidates to the President-CEO position (they interview them, assess their plans, etc.). The result of the selection is then recommended by the KBS Board of Governors to the President of the Republic of Korea who has the task to officially appoint the President-CEO based on these recommendations.
Source of funding and budget
KBS is funded through a license fee, a broadcast tax that all households in the country are legally obliged to pay. The fee, worth the equivalent of US$ 1.5 a month, is attached to the electricity bill, which ensures a high collection rate.
In the fiscal year 2019, the broadcaster operated with a budget of KRW 1.36tn (US$ 1.25bn); some 49% of which was accounted for by revenues from license fee and 19% by revenues from ad sales. Government allocated some 2% of the broadcaster’s total budget. In the 2020 fiscal year, KBS had a similar budget, the license fee accounted for some 40% of that and the ad sales for roughly 17% of it.
In the following two fiscal years, KBS had a total budget of KRW 14.58tn, the equivalent of US$ 1.2bn, (in 2021), and KRW 14.82, the equivalent of US$ 1.03bn (in 2022). The license fee remains the main source of revenue, accounting for over 46% of the KBS’ total revenue in the fiscal year 2022.
In June 2023, the presidential office recommended separating the collection of the KBS license fee from the electricity bill. Such a move, defenders of public service media say, would dramatically reduce its funds and could endanger its very existence in the long-term. The Global Task Force for Public Media, an advocacy group of public service media across the world, said that such a change would hand KBS “an existential crisis.”
Editorial independence
There is no evidence of censorship or manipulation of editorial content at KBS. Political pressures on the broadcaster have been made in the past, but KBS’ journalists have vigorously repelled such attacks, maintaining their editorial independence.
In 2018, KBS amended the Broadcast Planning Regulation for the first time in 16 years. According to the new regulation, the Planning Committee meetings have become mandatory and a new provision to guarantee editorial independence was introduced.
There is no independent mechanism of assessment of the KBS’ editorial independence.
October 2023