Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The days when South Korea's press was staid and state-controlled are well and truly over,
and there's now a thriving and competitive—some would say crowded—domestic media
scene that covers all forms of media and sectors of the political spectrum. Many foreign
residents are somewhat taken aback by the power of the Internet journalists, bloggers, and
debaters collectively known as “netizens,” whose speculations on government or corporate
malfeasance have been known to provoke full-scale protests. Web zines and forums have re-
placed the role of traditional media outlets for many South Koreans, particularly the young.
The granddaddies of South Korean print journalism are the
Chosun Ilbo, Dong-a Ilbo,
and
Joongang Ilbo,
all with fairly long histories and conservative slants. The
Chosun
and
Dong-
a
have English Internet editions that reproduce a limited number of stories from the print
versions, whereas the
Joongang
publishes its own English-language paper—the
Joongang
Daily,
distributed with the
International Herald Tribune.
At the other end of the spectrum
are newer, typically more left-wing publications such as the
Hankyoreh,
businesses dailies
serving the stock-trading set, and commuter papers full of light news and entertainment for
subway passengers. Unfortunately very little content is made available in other languages,
so non-Korean speakers miss out on a great deal of the scope of South Korean debate.
Beyond the
Joongang Daily,
the English-language press is confined to the
Korea Herald
and
Korea Times
newspapers, as well as a few event-oriented magazines like
Seoul,
Groove,
and
10.
All are inoffensive enough reads and a good source of information on
expatriate-oriented events and businesses, but they are unlikely to win any reporting prizes
and rarely tackle the controversial political and social developments that cram local head-
lines. Recent years have seen the welcome addition of a handful of regional English-lan-
guage publications targeted at the chronically underserved areas outside the capital, includ-
ing
Busan Haps
and
Jeju Weekly.
South Korea's biggest TV and radio broadcaster is the government-backed Korea Broad-
casting System (KBS), which runs multiple channels and stations dominated by news pro-
grams and soap operas. Its challengers include MBC and SBS, which are known for dra-
