Samsung Allegedly Pushes Newspaper To Kill Coverage Of Anti-Samsung Movie

Samsung-sign

It’s one thing for Samsung to diss Apple in an ad campaign, but apparently another entirely for filmmakers to diss Samsung.

That’s according to a new report, stating that Samsung allegedly pressurized a Korean online newspaper to kill coverage of an anti-Samsung movie. The president of NewDaily Biz supposedly ordered editors to take down an article about the film Another Promise, which offers a fictionalized criticism of working conditions for people working in Samsung’s factories.

The NewDaily Biz president, Park Jung-kyu, then sent text messages to Samsung executives apologizing for the paper’s coverage of the film. However, the texts were accidentally sent to journalists at rival South Korean newspaper Pressian, which published them with names redacted. The texts strongly imply that NewDaily Biz killed the article about Another Promise following pressure from Samsung.

Samsung, for its part, denies placing pressure on the publication. In a statement, the company said that:

We categorically deny any allegation that Samsung tries to exert influence over media coverage, including of this movie. The fact is that the movie has already been widely covered by domestic and global media since before its release in early February. The allegation concerning the article in question is clearly groundless.

Another Promise gained attention for being the first Korean movie to be funded entirely by private donations and crowdfunding. It was released in cinemas earlier this year, and tells the fictionalized story (details altered to avoid legal action) of Hwang Sang-ki, whose 23-year-old daughter died from acute leukemia in 2007, following her exposure to hazardous chemicals at a Samsung plant in Suwon.

In 2011, a Seoul administrative court sided with Hwang’s father — noting that there was a high probability that the leukemia resulted from her exposure to the chemicals.