NewJeans (NJZ) fans file petition against KBS for its alleged malicious reporting of the K-pop girl group

On Monday, April 7, the fans of the K-pop girl group NewJeans (NJZ)'s fans filed a petition against the South Korean broadcasting agency, KBS. The petition aimed to move against KBS' alleged malicious reporting of news related to the K-pop girl group. One of the things they talked about was KBS' article that speculated a rift between the NewJeans family members.

Despite the family members denying these speculations, the fans stated that the news agency allegedly kept pushing this agenda. Moreover, KBS also reportedly cited a YouTuber's comment on the K-pop girl group and allegedly made "anti-Korean" remarks. The last incident they highlighted was the malicious thumbnail they used for an article about NewJeans.

According to the petition, when the fans of the K-pop girl group demanded an apology from KBS and the removal of the thumbnail, they changed their thumbnail without any apology statement. Therefore, for all these incidents combined, the fans have demanded an official apology statement along with the stop of the malicious reporting of NewJeans.

The petition has 3,476 signatures signed so far, and more seem to be incoming. Here's part of the statement that was released along with the petition filed by the K-pop girl group's fandom against KBS:

"We deeply regret that KBS has spread false information by including provocative phrases such as "Escape is in the order of intelligence" despite the official statement that the suspicions of rifts between families have already been false. In the past, KBS has misled the public by citing the YouTuber's personal opinion without the overall context of the interview, as if New Jeans had made "anti-Korean" remarks."

The statement continued:

"When the fandom demanded a correction and apology for the malicious thumbnail that was so bad that it was difficult to tell if it was a public broadcaster or a cyberreck, KBS irresponsibly changed the thumbnail without any apology. KBS has been continuously reporting on groups that include minors by using provocative and malicious thumbnails to attract views, without basic fact-checking or guaranteeing the minimum right to refute."

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NewJeans goes on temporary hiatus following the first court hearing on ADOR's lawsuit on the members' contract validity

In November 2024, following ADOR's failure to meet NewJeans' 14-day ultimatum that demanded a series of actions from the agency, the group announced their departure from ADOR through an emergency press conference. However, ADOR soon released a statement explaining the validity of the group's exclusive contract with the agency and thereby filed a lawsuit against them.

Regardless, NewJeans went ahead with their independent activities and rebranded themselves into NJZ. They also took up the opportunity to perform at the Complex Con 2025 Hong Kong music festival on March 23. The first hearing of the lawsuit was held on March 21, and during the same, the court ruled that ADOR has permission to restrict NewJeans' independent activities.

Therefore, they rolled out their last independent activity at the Complex Con 2025 Hong Kong music festival, where they also performed their new unreleased track, PIT SONG. At the end of their performance, they rolled out a speech expressing their temporary hiatus to respect the court's orders.

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However, ADOR released a statement explaining that they were not informed about the group's hiatus and thereby requested the team to meet with ADOR to plan their future activities.