Mass media in South Korea
The South Korean mass media consist of several different types of public communication of news: television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based websites.
The Korean press had a strong reformist and nationalistic flavor from the beginning, but faced efforts at political control or outright censorship during most of the 20th century.
Following the March 1st Movement in 1919, the colonial government loosened their overt control over cultural activities and permitted several Korean newspapers to function while maintaining some behind-the-scenes direction over politically sensitive topics.
During the 1920s, Korean vernacular newspapers, such as Donga Ilbo, and intellectual journals such as Kaebyok (Creation), conducted running skirmishes with Japanese censors.
World War II mobilisation in the ensuing years ended any resemblance of autonomy for the Korean press; all Korean-language publications were outlawed in 1941.
During the Park and the subsequent Chun Doo-hwan administrations, the government exercised considerable control and surveillance over the media through the comprehensive National Security Act.
In late 1980, the Chun government established more thorough control of the news media than had existed in South Korea since the Korean War.
The guidelines dealt exhaustively with questions of emphasis, topics to be covered or avoided, the use of government press releases, and even the size of headlines.
Even the government-controlled Yonhap News Agency noted in 1989 that "TV companies, scarcely worse than other media, were the main target of bitter public criticism for their distorted reporting for the government in the early 1980s."
The political liberalization of the late 1980s brought a loosening of press restraints and a new generation of journalists more willing to investigate sensitive subjects, such as the May 1980 Gwangju massacre.
Many of the new weekly and monthly periodicals bypassed the higher profits of the traditional general circulation magazines to provide careful analyses of political, economic, and national security affairs to smaller, specialized audiences.
Observers noted a dramatic increase in press coverage of previously taboo subjects such as political-military relations, factions within the military, the role of security agencies in politics, and the activities of dissident organizations.
Journalists at several of the Seoul dailies organized trade unions in late 1987 and early 1988 and began to press for editorial autonomy and a more significant role in newspaper management.
Originally a propaganda vehicle that followed the government line on unification policy issues, Naewoe Press became increasingly objective and moderate in tone in the mid-1980s in interpreting political, social, and economic developments in North Korea.
Vantage Point, an English-language publication of Naewoe Press, provided in-depth studies of North Korean social, economic, and political developments.
[3][4][5] Except for two newspapers (one in Korean and one in English) that the government-owned or controlled and the state television network, ownership of the media was for the most part distinct from political or economic power.
Under the close oversight of its owner, the late Samsung Group founder and multimillionaire Lee Byung-chul, the paper and its affiliated TBC television network generally supported the Park government during the 1970s.
A journalists' strike at Joongang Ilbo in 1989, one of many similar incidents at the major South Korean newspapers, won even greater management and editorial independence.
It was founded by dissident journalists who were purged by the government in the early 1970s or 1980; many of the paper's reporters and editorial staff left positions in mainstream newspapers to join the new venture.
The structure and approach of the paper reflected the founders' view that in the past the South Korean news media had been too easily co-opted by the government.
The paper's nationalism and interest in national reunification were symbolically represented in the logo, which depicted Lake Cheonji at the peak of Baekdu Mountain in North Korea; in the exclusive use of the Korean alphabet; and in the type font in which the paper's name was printed, which dated from a famous Korean publication of the eighteenth century before the country became divided.
The result of the spread of television sets and radios was the dissemination of a homogenized popular culture and the impingement of urban values in rural communities.
After decades of state control and heavy censorship, the South Korean press (in print, on television, and online) is experiencing a period of relative freedom.
The National Security Law allows the government to limit the expression of ideas deemed pro-North Korean or communist; broad interpretations of this statute place a chill on peaceful dissent.
In addition, in 2003, President Roh Moo-Hyun brought a libel suit against four of the major national newspapers, and the government has stated that editorials are subject to legal action if they are found to contain falsehoods.
[7] Today, much of the news in South Korea is delivered through electronic means and the country is at the leading edge of the digital revolution and a trailblazer for high-speed and wireless internet services.
[8] Baegunhwasang Chorokbuljo Jikjisimcheyojeol (Jikji, Anthology Teachings of Zen Buddhist Priests) is the world's oldest extant movable metal print book.
'Cho Yeong-Nam & Choi Yu-ra's Radio Golden Age' is the most famous program which provides funny stories and K-pop music.
Many businesses utilize the Internet in Korea for services such as news, social media, shopping, banking, games, and educational content.
According to science direct it “is the most widely used IM application in South Korea with over 49.1 million active users” (2019, Digital Investigation).
