Korea’s public broadcaster, KBS, has been praised for its emergency content during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Public Media Alliance (PMA), a global association of public broadcasters, described KBS’ emergency content as “exemplary” and said it had played a crucial role during the pandemic.

The PMA cited new research that said KBS’ COVID coverage had “made a significant contribution to the nation”.

The research – conducted by the KBS Public Media Institute, Dongduk Women’s University, and Kongju National University – assessed KBS’ emergency broadcasting over a two-year period, from 20 January 2020 to 31 December 2021.

It detailed how much COVID coverage KBS had provided to the public, including nearly 25,000 news items on KBS TV and 40 TV programmes dedicated to the virus. It also launched the Integrated Newsroom Service, which became the platform for all its COVID content.

The PMA said that from the very start of the pandemic, KBS had recognised its public mission to provide vital information to the population, which drove decision-making processes throughout the organisation.

The alliance said similar trends could be seen among public broadcasters elsewhere. It praised both NHK-Japan and Radio New Zealand for their emergency broadcasting.

For more on this from KBS see here. For more from the PMA see here.