Naver is resuming news partnership evaluations that were halted for 2 years and 8 months. Once the process is completed, new partner media outlets are expected to be approved to join Naver within this year.

On Feb. 2, industry officials said Naver sent official cooperation requests to related groups and institutions to appoint candidates for the Partnership Review Committee and the Operations Evaluation Committee.

The News Partnership Evaluation Committee, which handled assessments for joining Naver News and for sanctions, temporarily suspended its activities in May 2023. Naver later launched the Naver News Partnership Committee in July last year and selected 11 policy committee members. It is made up of academics, legal professionals, former journalists and people recommended by political parties.

The Partnership Review Committee examines qualifications required for media outlets to join Naver as partners. The Operations Evaluation Committee determines whether partner media outlets violated rules and whether sanctions should be imposed.

The pool of expert reviewers that Naver will form will have 300 to 500 people. The recipients of the official requests include the Media Diversity Committee, the Public Opinion Concentration Survey Committee, the Internet Newspaper Ethics Committee, the Korea Press Ethics Commission, and readers’ and viewers’ committees at media outlets that meet the operating rules standards of the News Partnership Committee.

Members of the two committees are randomly selected for each review and evaluation cycle from a pool of experts in related fields such as media, journalism, digital platforms and policy, excluding those currently in office.

Naver is also preparing a news partnership briefing session to disclose policy details and direction shortly after the Lunar New Year holiday. Work is also underway to establish rules for evaluating new partnerships.