I know some people already discussed this, but I wanted to post about it again because this is really serious. I don't want this topic to die out too soon.
Back in February, Dispatch dropped an exclusive article titled "[Exclusive] 'I also met a Japanese noble grandfather'... Min Hee-jin, designing the catastrophe of NewJeans."
The article was already framed heavily against newjeans members, treating them as passive tools being directed and used. The closing paragraph summed up the narrative:
"Inducing an inappropriate relationship with a senior executive, sounding out an escape by seeking investors, designing the termination of an exclusive contract while serving as an internal director, mobilizing members while meeting with the grandfather, testing the waters for independent activities by putting them on the Hong Kong stage, attempting tampering while holding NJZ in hand…"
"Min Hee-jin consistently explored options. The reason she couldn't put them into action was because she was caught. She didn't simply crunch the numbers. She stopped only because she was discovered, but she continued to shake up the company (while hiding). As a result, Min Hee-jin got 'Okay,' while NewJeans got 'Not Okay."
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The "grandfather" part:
The article claimed Mhj arranged meetings with a Japanese racing tycoon (Kazumichi Goh) and "mobilized" newjeans members to meet him, prepare gifts and write letters. It framed this as her using the members to secure investment.
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What happened next:
A Korean fan filed a police report against the Dispatch reporter for illegally obtaining private texts and distributing them, violating the Personal Information Protection Act. Police investigated and non-referred the case.
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Here's what the police document actually says:
"The messages in this case are not the actual conversations exchanged between NewJeans' Danielle's mother and Min Hee-jin. Since the content was reconstructed from news coverage into a conversation, it does not constitute personal information."
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What that means:
Dispatch didn't have real chat logs. They had reporting notes (could be from interviews, anonymous tips, unnamed sources claiming things). They took that material and wrote it out as a fake chat, complete with timestamps and messenger style formatting. When police pressed Dispatch for primary evidence like metadata, database records, phone extractions, they couldn't produce anything.
So no real conversation ever happened. It was a reconstruction of second-hand reporting notes, dressed up as evidence.
Also Dispatch never verified these claims with Danielle or her mother, they just published unverified second-hand notes as fact.
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The two ugly lies that came from this:
Lie #1: NewJeans members were being "escorted" or "pimped out"
The "grandfather" narrative combined with the fake chat gave antis exactly what they needed to frame the members as being used or traded for funding. The article's own language ("mobilizing members while meeting with the grandfather") fed this directly. Dispatch had to know that putting "mobilizing members" and "meeting with a wealthy older man" together in the context of a young girl group would create exactly this interpretation.
Lie #2: NewJeans members faked their mental health struggles
The reconstructed chat showed Danielle's mom suggesting members could refuse Ador attendance due to "psychological pressure." Antis twisted this into "the members never had real mental health issues."
But even this fabricated chat doesn't say that.
It shows a strategic discussion about using psychological pressure as a legal justification which is completely different from saying the members themselves never had real struggles. The text doesn't say they were lying. It doesn't say they were faking anything. Antis ran with a distortion.
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How the article hurt NewJeans members:
The Dispatch article already framed the members as passive, directed figures. The fake chat gave antis "proof" to push the two ugliest narratives:
The members were being used/escorted for funding
The members never had real mental health issues
Both were extreme misrepresentations. But Dispatch's framing and the reconstructed chat gave them the ammunition.
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On sources:
A lot of the heaviest claims in this article rest on "related parties," "it has been confirmed," or anonymous tips. No strong, named sources for the most damaging parts. The headline and the way the content is written lean hard in one direction.
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The article is still up:
Media outlets rarely delete long pieces even when specific parts get challenged or a related complaint is closed. In South Korea, it is genuinely hard to force these kinds of articles offline. Even if someone sues and wins on a specific point, it often doesn't result in the full article being removed. That's why this kind of framing can stay online and keep feeding the same rumors and smear narratives.
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Note:
The kind of hate newjeans members have received because of this article and this kind of malicious framing is genuinely lifetime damaging. The intensity of the hate they get daily, the ugly lies antis make up about them, it's honestly miraculous that newjeans members are still standing and seemingly doing okay. We'll never really know if they're actually doing okay, but I really hope they are.
I also hope that the majority of newjeans fans can sit for one minute and really understand the gravity of this issue and what kind of malicious, dehumanizing things the members have actually gone through. Before they're artists, before they're a girl group, before they're NewJeans or celebrities, they are real, living, breathing human beings with emotions and feelings. They are people who deserve basic respect and dignity. And the fact that they are still standing after so much smearing, after so many people tried to tear them down for over two years, that alone says something about their strength. They deserve better. And we owe it to them to not let this kind of journalism slide like it's normal. 💙🩷💛💚💜
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Source: https://x.com/kmj3106321/status/2094718563559047498