MBC has officially denied the creation and leak of the attendance report of the late Oh Yoanna, a weathercaster, which was leaked online. The document contains detailed information that would be known only to an internal person, raising questions about who leaked it and for what purpose.
On the 22nd of last month, a document titled 'Late Oh Yoanna Broadcast Accident, Attendance Record' spread across online communities and social media. The document details that from January 26, 2022, to January 12 of the following year, the deceased was late or absent without notice a total of 9 times for TV programs 'News Today', '12 News', and the radio program 'Morning Opening the World'.
The document includes a timeline written in minute detail, from team leader reports to the emergency standby of a senior weathercaster who would substitute for the broadcast, phone connections, and visits to the homes of weather team staff. Since it contains information that would be difficult to know without being an internal person, suspicions arose that it might have been an internal leak when the document was made public.
However, according to MBC, the document was neither created internally nor leaked. Park Geon-sik, head of MBC's planning department, who attended the 422nd National Assembly's first full meeting of the Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee as a witness on the 5th, stated, "As far as we know, this document has not been leaked from the company. It has not been confirmed whether it was created by the company."
He added, "I am aware of the suspicions that the document was leaked from MBC," and emphasized again that, based on inquiries made to employees under the assumption that they are honest, it has been confirmed that the company did not create or leak it.
Meanwhile, many netizens are expressing doubts about the circumstances of the document's leak and the reasons for it. The title of the document, 'Late Oh Yoanna Broadcast Accident, Attendance Record', suggests that it was created after the deceased's death. Furthermore, if the internal investigation by MBC has not confirmed that the document was created internally, it is not an officially created document by the company. Considering various circumstances, it appears that someone obtained internal information from MBC after the deceased's death and created the document, which was then leaked through some means.
Some netizens have pointed out, "Was the data leaked intentionally?", "Does the intention behind the data leak mean to hold the deceased responsible?", "Could attendance issues be known by anyone outside?", "We need to check if this attendance issue is related to workplace bullying", "What does the deceased's attendance have to do with the current controversy?", "It only makes me feel how hard it must have been for her", "Attendance issues should be dealt with at the company level; workplace bullying cannot be justified."
Additionally, there are opinions suggesting, "We need to see what the intention of releasing this at this point is", "Is this an attempt to turn public opinion?", "We need to confirm if someone leaked it intentionally", "We need to find out who the leaker is."
Meanwhile, the deceased's family has filed a civil lawsuit against a colleague weathercaster, A, who is believed to have engaged in workplace bullying, at the Seoul Central District Court last December. It is reported that A's side has not submitted any opinion to the court. Consequently, the plaintiff's side submitted a request for a judgment date without a hearing on the 27th of last month, and the court has set the judgment date for the 27th of this month.
[Kim So-yeon, Star Today Reporter]
