How to lead by strong guiding principles in a media landscape in crisis
The Korea Herald holds a special place for the expat community, because the Korea Herald is the largest English daily news in Korea, thus being a window for the international community to understand the country in which we live. On June 13th our presenter was Cultural Editor at the Korea Herald Kim Hoo-Ran. She is a skilled leader that has been in news for 25 years - 20 of these at Korea Herald.
In this article we share her insights about the Korean media, the dilemmas of modern news management and the leadership task of being the editor.
How do you get your news?
This year Korea Herald is celebrating its 70th anniversary. The newspaper was established after the war with the purpose of opening a window for the world to Korea. In Korea there is 5 large Korean national newspapers and 3 major english speaking.
However, in Korea - as all over the world - traditional news is under pressure because people, especially young people no longer necessarily turn to the newspapers to get their news. In Korea tv has been the largest source of news for many years and it seems to be quite constant. Therefore some news both come in written and TV-format. However, the new thing is the internet as a source of information. Both younger and older target groups consult the internet for news. In particular search engines are the access point and of course Youtube. A short, completely un-academic survey of the network participants of the day confirmed this.
This is tricky because search portals such as Naver (preferred over google in Korea) function on an algorithm that adapts to your likings, thus presenting content that will match your beliefs. If this is how you get your news this means your perceptions of the facts of the world will always be confirmed. But maybe it would be better to be presented with the nuances and even opposing opinions and perspectives making it possible to alter your perceptions.
All over the world, classic news is trying to combat the algorithm and attract readers to their full newspaper (physical or online). But for Korea this seems even more important. Korea is in the throes of change in many ways and this can cause a division. This can be intergenerational, inter-genderial etc. Here it becomes even more important that people are exposed for both sides in order to create understanding and traditionally the classic news would play a role in this. This is because the traditional news reporter is adherent to a range of journalistic ethics and principles. Whereas getting the news primarily from Youtube will keep the gap between people. Which actually often strengthens peoples aversion against the news. Making it an unfortunate spiral.
Is the news neutral?
According to Hoo-Ran Korea has a relatively free and independent media, which is of course essential if news is to fulfill the role described above. This means they are not government controlled and there is a high level of freedom of speech in Korea. However, the reasons Hoo-Ran frames it as relatively free is threefold:
Political media tradition. Korean news does not claim neutrality but all adheres to a political viewpoint. The 3 largest newspapers represent a conservative profile. Korea Herald is actually a newspaper who aspires to neutrality. This of course affects how you choose content and the angles on stories.
Legislative protection of the individual. There is two legislations that can lead to self-censorship of journalists who risks up to 7 years in prison if either law is broken:
National security: Being in a special situation Korea has very clear legislation protecting national security that to some extent does put a bond on what is allowed to cover in the news. However, no one has been sentenced under this for many years
More important is regarding defamation. Because, newspapers and the individual journalist can be subject to lawsuit if a person finds a story or picture defamatory. And under this law many have been sentenced over the years and even though you are acquitted going through the motions is a headache. This means if you follow Korean news you will see a thorough masking of faces in public photos and names will never be uncovered in criminal cases until the final sentence is said.
Ownership changes to private corporations. Print media is in crisis and in Korea people don’t subscribe to digital news (or at least only to a very limited extent). Economically, that has forced several news media to be sold to corporations which naturally can endanger neutrality if there can be a conflict of interest between the reporter's angle and the needs of the owners being a private company.
On top of this many journalists face harassment from the public if covering a controversial topic or giving voice to a counter-perspective that does not sit well with people. This can be quite fierce making reporters self-censor in some cases.
Is ethics for sale?
However, the largest threat is not this, but advertising. Because print is in crisis and subscriptions aren’t selling in large numbers, Korean news relies heavily on advertising. This can create a conflict of interest and challenge the ethics of modern news.
Following this is the dependency on the algorithm behind the search portals - in fact 69% of Koreans get their news from search portals. Because, this entails that modern news also has to cater to the algorithm to get their stories read. This can invite the use of certain wordings or overgearing headlines to attract attention. But as noted by a participant it becomes problematic because often she would not make it past the headline in a busy morning with kids and daily life stuff.
This happens in a very fast news world. The meaning of deadline is that if you do not make the line, you are dead. This coins the world of news. On a typical day Hoo-Ran will have 3 important meetings planning the day, meaning that the decisions often will be made within 10 minutes.
At the same time you know you have the power to affect the public narrative. It is not unimportant which stories are told in public or how they are presented. Why Hoo-Ran thought she would change the world coming into media as a young reporter. Because the media holds a great power.
There is no manual for the newsroom
By now it should be clear that the world of news is a fast moving complex landscape to navigate in. However, there is no manual to lead a news room. Nor would it make sense to try and create one. In a world of constant decision making that operates in the present it would be impossible and potentially harmful to the editorial work. Thus being an editor you don’t learn in school but you learn from practicing. Making it important to have good bosses because they form you. For Hoo-Ran she had inspirational leaders on which she has built her editorial compas.
For Kim Hoo-Ran she navigates from a goal of fairness. There is no need to offend people if we don’t have to. It is important to be fair. In this she seeks a balance where of course different perspectives should be given voice. But with a critical stand, because is it necessarily the media's role to give voice to all harmful perspectives?
Doing this she teaches her reporters to work by the 3 c’s:
Curiosity. The only stupid question is the one you don’t ask
Communication. It only works if people understand what you are writing
Compassion. You are dealing with real people and peoples life
Having guiding principles, not necessarily written or even verbalized, but in your gut is determining creating high quality news and is the editors most important tool. Something Hoo-Ran has developed during her 25 years of experience.
Making quality news gives Hoo-Ran a sense of accomplishment because doing cultural news she gets to enrich people's lives, making them happier. Doing cultural news may not change the world as she thought she would as a young reporter. But she gets to make someone happy.
However, at the Gallery we will beg to differ and end this article with a quote by Raymond Chandler:
Without magic there is no art,
Without art there is no idealism.
Without idealism there is no integrity.
Without integrity there is only production
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