CJENM fined for manipulating votes for 'Produce' series

CJENM has been fined for manipulating votes for the 'Produce' series.

On July 22, the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) imposed fines on the production company CJENM for manipulating the results of their 'Produce' competitive reality series. CJENM was sentenced to a fine, which is the highest punishment given by the KCSC, by a unanimous vote.

The KCSC stated, "This will remain as a stain on Korean broadcast history. The broadcast program fooled and defrauded an engaged public audience, and they negated the hard work of innocent contestants. This took place across 4 years from 2016, and the number of those involved increased every season. There was also a similar issue in a different audition program titled 'Idol School', and the staff have been prosecuted without detention."

The commission further stated CJENM was responsible for failing to control what went on internally, and the company had attempted to place all the blame on the producers. 

A rep from CJENM also stated, "We take responsibility as the production company, and we're currently looking into measures to better ourselves. We apologize for causing such disappointment. We're deeply sorry. We have no excuses, and we're responsible for this."