Naver News Introduces 'Negative Evaluation' for Promotional Alcohol, Tobacco Articles

Naver's News Partnership Review Committee has, for the first time, explicitly designated one-sided promotional articles about items directly linked to public health, such as alcohol and tobacco, as subjects for negative evaluation. For regulated items like tobacco and alcohol, articles that solely convey information provided by companies without objective grounds will incur a demerit score of 1 point per article. This marks the first time specific items like tobacco and alcohol have been explicitly listed for evaluation, and articles that promote them primarily based on company-provided information, especially concerning items with legal restrictions on advertising or sales promotion, will be subject to negative evaluation.

Previously, the review committee's standards for Naver and Kakao had classified articles that unilaterally conveyed information mainly from companies about products and services closely related to public health, such as food, pharmaceuticals, and medical services, as subjects for negative evaluation. With the establishment of this new regulation, alcohol and tobacco have been added to this list.

A score of 1 point will be assigned per article if direct exposure of company names, product names, or sales information is made with the intent to induce purchase of a specific product or service. If, upon navigating to an affiliated media outlet's webpage via Naver News search or article exposure, advertisements outside the article body are linked to the sale of the company, product, or service featured in the article, it will also incur a 1-point penalty. Even if sales-related information is not directly exposed, if the product can be identified from the article's content and there is promotional intent, a score of 0.5 points will be assigned.

A representative from Naver News Partnership Committee explained that items like tobacco and alcohol, along with other services, are directly linked to public health, as evidenced by various legal statutes. They added that the item was maintained with the intention of fostering a reporting trend that prioritizes the delivery of objective and safe information. The measure does not prohibit the submission of corporate press releases itself. Press releases without separate journalistic coverage, when submitted to the press release section, do not fall under the negative evaluation criteria.