Position Paper 1: News & Information

 

        Being from a country such as the United States, it can be easy to take for granted some of the freedoms that I am afforded, the Freedom of Speech being one of those. Journalists and citizens in other places around the world are being persecuted and isolated for using their voices. They speak against governments or injustices being done to the people in that region. In order to learn more information about international media outlets, I am analyzing a newspaper out of South Korea. In 1953 The Korea Herald was founded in Seoul, South Korea, and this daily newspaper is one of the leading English-language papers in the country. The journalism staff is composed of Korean writers and other international writers.

        The government of South Korea is a unitary state with a centralized democratic republic. For many years South Korea has ranked as one of the freest countries in Asia as it pertains to freedom of speech. Over the years, as new leaders come into power there have been some fluctuations in the media restrictions. According to the country’s constitution, it guarantees the freedom of speech and the press along with other things. However, the National Security Act allows for the South Korean government to censor ideas that support or praise anti-state groups or people. An example would be if an individual decided to start a blog praising the practices or actions of the North Korean government, then the government could step in to reprimand the said person.

      

  The Korea Herald’s online newspaper is divided into a total of eight main subsections. Half of the subsections are for more serious news stories and the other four could are categorized as featured news. The first section is on national news which includes articles regarding the fluctuations in Covid-19 cases throughout the country, diplomatic affairs, and policing matters. There was one article that stuck out to me that was written about North Korean leadership and their intent to nurture more individuals to support their political party assuming to show “absolute fidelity”. The article did not seem to be biased, but simply stated the facts about the meeting that Jong-un (C) had with leaders within the Worker’s Party. This seems to have been intentional to ensure that they could not be seen as bad-mouthing them in the media.

        The next two sections are business and finance. News stories about state budgets, taxes, stocks, and other financial matters. This section seems to have a similar format for most of the stories in these categories. The graphics also seemed very simple and on topic with the stories. ‘Life&Style’ is another one of the sections. Here there are stories about artwork, gardening, architecture, and even cooking. This seems like it could be full of beneficial reading material for someone who is interested in knowing a bit about everything. The sports, entertainment, and K-Pop sections also seemed to be popular among readers and were filled with stories about current or upcoming artists and athletes.

         The most popular stories tare always to the left of the screen as easy pop-ups are updated on Covid-19 total cases for the day, public procedures for everyday life, and even international travel. The other types of stories that seem to be most popular are those that have more light-hearted topics about music, entertainment, and even food. I was not surprised because the Covid-19 pandemic has taken a toll on everyone and sometimes the more light-hearted news stories allow people to take a break from reality.

        One of the last sections of the Korea Herald was the opinion section. I knew that this would be the best place to look to get insight into how the writers truly feel. These editorial pieces were over a broad spectrum of topics like Covid-19 travel procedures, abortion laws in the United States, entertainment, and even sports. The pieces all managed to be respectful while articulating how the writers felt on the matter. Considering this, I do believe the Korea Herald is written in an atmosphere of freedom of speech. This is not always the case with international news sources, as some have rigid restrictions on speech, but The Korea Herald has used the platform and voice for the good of those in South Korea.