MNet Manipulates Voting Results of Survival Show 'Idol School', Including 3 Contestants Who Debuted with Fromis_9

Kapanlagi.com - There have been many controversies regarding vote manipulation in audition shows held on television. Recently, netizens were shocked by the revelation that three members of the girl group Fromis_9, who came from the survival show Mnet Idol School, were replaced through manipulated voting results.

The producer in charge (CP) of the program that aired in 2017 and CJENM director Kim have been brought to trial on charges of obstruction of business and fraud. In the first trial led by senior judge Kim Sung Hoon at the Seoul Central District Court, CP Kim admitted to manipulating the voting results of Idol School.

1. Not Guilty

credit: MNet

On November 9th, CP Kim's lawyer admitted all the facts regarding the manipulation of the voting results but legally declared his client not guilty.

"We have no reason to cause harm to the viewers who voted with love and care for the participants. However, the participants were ranked differently than what was originally informed to the viewers. The defendant pleads not guilty to charges of obstructing business and fraud," said CP Kim's lawyer, as reported by Allkpop.

2. Count Adjustment

The ranking of Idol School participants has changed due to count adjustments. Furthermore, CP Kim questioned whether this method can be considered as manipulation and deceiving the audience.

"SMS votes should have ten times the weight of normal votes. However, distortion occurred because there were only a few SMS votes and low viewer ratings. We observed a sharp increase in the ranking of certain artists when their families mobilized family members, relatives, and acquaintances to vote. We felt that if we continued to do so, we would lose more viewer ratings, and this program would fail. So we multiplied the online votes by five," said CP Kim.

"It's not that we completely ignored SMS votes. We just multiplied the online votes by five," he added.

3. Not Involved

On the other hand, CJENM director Kim denies all allegations. Director Kim's lawyer stated that his client was not involved in the discussion of program modifications.

"The prosecutor believes that the defendant decided to eliminate contestants from the final selection by discussing the elimination of some participants before the live broadcast of the 11th episode with CP Kim. However, he does not remember the incident. There were 16 programs managed at that time, but the director did not have time to be involved and discuss specific programs in detail. CP Kim and the main producer have the authority to determine the composition and editing of the broadcast program," said Director Kim's lawyer.

4. Profit

Previously, CP Kim was tried for obstructing CJENM broadcasting production work by manipulating the rankings of 33 individuals and selecting three participants who did not reach the final rankings to be part of the group debuting on September 22, 2017.

He was also accused of making a profit of 15 million won (approximately Rp 188.5 million) from around 69,000 viewers and 3 million won (approximately Rp 37.7 million) from an agreement after lying to viewers that they could decide the debut group through paid SMS voting from July 20 to September 22.

5. Conspiracy Accusations

The prosecutor assessed that director Kim received a report from CP Kim when selecting debut participants for the final episode and approved it. The prosecutor brought director Kim to court on charges of conspiracy.

Meanwhile, the next trial is scheduled for January 14th next year.

(all/rsp)