온라인 뉴스 유통 서비스의 헌법적 쟁점과 규율방안

Web portals play important roles in online news ditribution nowadays. While traditional mass media distributed their news to the recipients directly in their own way, the present distribution structure is that most news media, including both traditional and web-based type, are connected to general consumers mainly through web portals. Internet as sea of information is occupying a larger proportion in everyday life, and web portals are getting more important with their search function accordingly. There have been controversial discussions on the significance, purposes, reason, methods and effects of web portal regulation to deal with complex problems allegedly attributed to web portals in various respects. Considering that the online news distribution structure can have an important bearing on the guarantee of freedom of expression as well as open, democratic process of public opinion formation and decision making, these issues are not just on the adjustment of interest, but on the realization of constitutional value. In this paper, starting with the examination on the recent legislation bills related to the regulation of web portals, I study these points with a focus on specific legislative measures to secure fairness and impartiality of web portals in online news distribution in the context of nearly decade-long discussions on web portal regulation.