On coverage of the Samsung chief’s return
After reading the New York Times account of the former head of Samsung taking up his perch at Samsung Electronics again, I finally realized just how much my own paper’s coverage of the affair stunk.
Lee Kun-hee had to step down two years ago after being indicted for tax evasion, although apparently there were a lot of less savory charges he got away with. Duly, NYT refers to him as an “ex-convict” in the second paragraph.
Us? He gets called “legendary” in the subheadline and our lead is “The problem solver has returned.”
Our story makes a connection with the problems at Toyota, and how that prompted the leadership to see the need for a steady hand at the wheel once more.
The Times makes that connection, too, but with an important difference: “His return only makes Samsung more vulnerable to the kind of risk Toyota faces,” a source points out. The whole story is a keen piece of critical reporting.
What passes for critical in ours? Samsung is “experiencing growing competition in key business areas”! A single dissenting voice is quoted, and that’s in the last paragraph of a story buried on page 3 titled “Lee’s return to Samsung could bolster economy.”
FULL DISCLOSURE: THE JOONGANG ILBO WAS ONCE AN AFFILIATE OF SAMSUNG GROUP
The rest of the Korean media’s coverage isn’t that much better. The Korea Times’ sources sound thrilled that he’s so graciously agreed to return. Korea Herald saves its dissent for the last paragraph, too.
Why is this such a big deal? Here are two important background notes from the Times story, the full version of which I could not find online - so I’m transcribing it from the print edition! (What’s up with that?)
- “Under the ‘imperial management system symbolized by the Lee family, ‘vassal’ executives work only for the best interests of the owner families, not for the shareholders as a whole… Under such one-man leadership, few dare point out the families’ mistakes…”
- “Samsung…accounts for a fifth of the country’s exports[!]…People watch Samsung ads or Samsung baseball and soccer teams on Samsung TV sets. They drive Samsung cars and call one another on Samsung cellphones. They shop with Samsung credit cards, live in Samsung apartments…” Let’s not forget Samsung Life Insurance.
Now, it’s gone back to being run by a guy who didn’t feel like he had to pay taxes of $4 billion, and that was apparently the very least of his crimes.
1 year ago