Justice for Min Yoongi. The K-media and "fan" social media posse must be held accountable for character assassination

The maelstrom that has enveloped Min Yoongi since his minor scooter accident has been nothing short of media and social media malpratice.

Hi, it’s me: Professional journalist, college journalism professor, and BTS fan here. Also, huge Agust D fan, to the point where some of my passwords may be a spin on Yoongi-yah’s alter egos. I miss Yoongi.

I’ve always stood to the side of the media/social media/anti’s/solos drama, because so much of it seemed to be manufactured for engagement. I mean, how can you take anything from Koreaboo seriously when they make a headline out of something stupid like JK drinking coffee on a Tuesday.

Engagement farmers, solos, antis, fools, begone.

But the recent events of the K-media (aka Knetz), plus the online antis, forming a posse to go after one Min Yoongi has really hit home for me. My career as a sports journalist has put me in the same spaces as some very famous people. They were at work, I was at work watching them. Tiger Woods. Serena Williams. Messi. Kim Yuna. Simone Biles. Marta. Usain Bolt. Michael Jordan. LeBron James. And on and on. Being in the world where these people can’t just do their jobs, but have to consider the optics of what they do/say, worry about stalkers, people who want to do them harm or steal their money, has given me a different perspective on their lives. The best want to do their jobs, perform well, make people happy, yeah - make some money, and live life. Much of that gets taken away by the fandoms as they ascend the ladder of fame. The hate can come from their gender, race, sexual orientation, or something as simple as being from the wrong place/playing for the wrong team.

The narrative of some media is to build you up, until you are ready for the take down. And much like Shakesparean narrative, the fallen hero either gets up to attain redemption, or the hero falls away into failure and is forgotten. It’s simplistic, but you see it over and over. Tiger’s high of highs, and lows of lows. Much of his own doing, but fueled to new heights and lows by the media coverage.

The tabloid and mainstream media, at least in the U.S., have merged into one blob, reporting with glee on the doings of Britney Spears and Justin Bieber with the same level of importance as what is happening in wars around the world. Britney’s 25-year arc of rise-fail-rise-? more certainly has not helped her fragile grip on mental health.

Which brings me to what’s happening to Yoongi.

We got the dreaded, “This is BigHit Music” notification on August 7, with first Yoongi telling us what happened, and then a second note clarifying what kind of scooter it was. What the truth is: Yoongi went out to dinner, had some alcohol, and took his scooter back home. He was close to home, riding safely - according to the CCTV video - and turned the slow-moving scooter a little hard left going into the entrance to his gated complex. Three police officers magically appeared, and from there, the police anons, and media jumped off into conspiracyland. He was fined and had his license suspended. Yoongi looked fine, and there was no property damage or persons injured by his driving. The police, as of today, said they will be questioning Yoongi this week as part of the investigation.

I have been absolutely stunned by the journalistic malpractice and straight up malfeasance I have witnessed from afar, with TV newsprograms going as far as showing the wrong CCTV footage (leaked?!) and saying it was Yoongi. Then, when the official video was released, the media outlets did not do justice to repair for the damage to his reputation. Just like, whoopsie, misunderstanding. Yonhap News, which is a news service that has investment capital from the Korean Government, also ran with the same wrong video, and has failed to come to account. The corrections starkly fail to match the drama and damage. So let the investigations into this commence, but I am not holding my breath that real change will come.

We need to see more of this:

A LOT MORE.

My God, heads should roll for being this wrong. This is not how journalism works. The head editors should be apologizing, and the advertisers should be questioning their relationship with flawed news organizations. JBTCNewsroom’s weak sauce cop to error was not enough compared to what they all did.

The fact that the public antis are deranged enough to demand Yoongi go to prison (he won’t), be kicked out of BTS (uh, sure, idiots), be banned from music shows/TV networks (please, don’t threaten them with things they don’t need do anyways), or harass him to the point of self-harm, is frightening. The issue of K-stars taking their own lives, or falling into self-destruction, because of public pressure is very real.

The accounts should be tracked, shuttered, and the fake content creators should be sued into oblivion. That’s going to be on HYBE’s legal crew to open that can of whoop-ass.

I have a friend who works in Korean media - and NO, they are not one of the bad, bad people - and I asked them what this all means. Why wouldn’t the first lady of Korea being in super big legal trouble, the investigator “taking” their own life, or other issues of reality be more important that chasing one Min Yoongi to the ends of his sanity over a scooter falling over?

If BTS really is the pride of Korea, as is said over and over, is this how you treat the people you love? We’ve seen the deviousness of this Korean government, thanks to the five-act play over three years that was the enlistment/deferment drama. BTS shut that down on their own, no thanks to the government honchos who were content to use them and leave them hanging. They can talk to Special Elite Warriors Kim Seok-jin and Jung Ho-Seok, thank you very much.

My Korean friend’s explanation: It’s a scary quirk of most societies, that we seem to attack the famous, because we get some thrill over taking them down a notch. We fail to remember they are human, just because they have visibility and wealth. There has been a special target on BTS’ back, with the irony being the higher they fly into fame, wealth and recognition, the more the knives come out from the same places praising them. Korea has a special knack for destroying their own, with the public feeding the media, and the media feeding the public. Just look at Tablo from Epik High. The TV networks who want BTS on for ratings, are the same ones airing specious journalism. There are few ethical guardrails, and few punishments for bad journalism, in Korea that leave a sting. I can be sued for libel or slander, depending on what I do asa journalist, and the same needs to happen to a whole bunch of people in K-media.

JK and Tae are legally going after a YT account - finally - for lying about their private lives. But the fines may not be enough to stop the account from shutting down. One account dies, another pops up, like weeds in a field.

We are in a cross-roads, globally, with people not trusting the news or needing their “own facts”. Journalists die every day in war zones trying to bring the truth to light. At our best, journalism can be live-saving, illuminating, world changing.

At our worst, we destroy lives in the flesh and on paper.

The point should be made by BTS and HYBE, both individually and collectively: you want to lie, see you in court. No prisoners. I would love to see Yoongi drop legal hell on all of the media sources who got this so wrong and hurt his reputation. Not sure he can though, given his service period and the complications with that.

I was thinking of the stooges I have seen on socials, now backtracking from their “Yoongi is going to prison and it’s serious” content. Their half-hearted apologies, with a sotto voce of BTS being “able to take it”, isn’t working. We live in a society with fading repercussions for lying and hurting people. It’s wrong. Just because others are doing it, doesn’t mean you should. If you are a journalist, a real one, you are like a doctor and take an oath to do no harm.

Because the harm we can do is real, and is no joke.

Or if you want to hear it in BTS’ own words, I give you the lyrics of UGH! and HUH!?

Agust D part, HUH:

“It's disgusting to pretend that you're clean
Please check your shit first
Many articles and gossip, the villain in the information age
If reality is a gutter, get out of it
I pray that even you'll do well”

Suga and j-hope, UGH:

Ah, what the hell is there to be upset about being criticized a bit?
You earn a lot, why are you whining again?
You'd have to put up with at least that much, ahem

The evil force, cleverly called “tall poppy syndrome”, is effective at removing the humanity from the target. Guilty because they’re rich. Guilty because they have it all. Guilty because they are too big for us. Throw that sewage into social media, and then have it validated/confirmed by mainstream media… and it is a perfect storm of hell.

That’s what Yoongi has been going through. Character assassination for nothing. He literally dipped off a scooter. No harm done. But if you took the news from other sources, you would thing he took out a mini-van with 5 kids and a mom and fled the scene. Idiocy.

I honestly think Yoongi is OK-ish, because he can be quiet and hide away right now because of civil service, have the people who love and care for him be near, and most importantly - he is well experienced in dealing with bullshit. As are the six other members of BTS, who have all suffered at the hands of their own home media and social media structures. They are, I am sure, at the ready for him too in their own ways right now.

As a professional, responsible journalist, I always keep in mind with my words, actions and reporting can do. I have helped people, shed light on injustices, made people laugh - and cry - with my work. That is what I am here for. I have had to go after some shitty people, and when I did, I brought all the receipts and made sure I was as correct as possible. And the times when I was wrong, which thankfully have been not often and of a minor scale, I apologized. I am accountable. I am not here only for the clicks or to make myself the story.

THESE ARE THE ONLY CCTV VIDEOS I EVER WANT TO SEE OF YOONGI.

I see so much of this missing in what is happening to Yoongi. The media threw conspiracies and rumors, backed up by no reporting, and made this small incident into a felony. The haters on social media did wave after wave of fake accounts, altered “evidence”, and made themselves the judge and jury for something minor. If a Min Yoongi of Daegu, in an alternate universe where he was an office worker of no fame, had this accident….we would never have known about it or had the stew of terrible people.

There are a lot of amends to be made, and this isn’t over. I hope the Korean media takes the government corruption scandals as serious as a cat rapper on a scooter.

But we both know the answer, to quote UGH:

“We’re used to stepping on shit. We are.”

What’s your take on this?