Korean Job Discussion Forums

[freethought]

http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/10/12/2009101200183.html

an honest question on this one...

I am trying to attribute this kind of story to 'something', or maybe saying I am trying to understand these kinds of stories is a better way to put it.

A) is it 'showing off' to the english world so we'll think Koreans are good/special?

B) is it for 'domestic' consumption?

C) is it nationalism or is it honest celebration?

D) would Canada/America/Britain etc ever publish something like this for hyphenated (mexican-Americans, Chinese-canadians, etc) people from their own country?

E)

part 1)
Is this purely a unique phenomenon due to the nature of the English media in Korea?

part2)
Does this happen in the Spanish language media in America/California?

part 3)
I don't ever remembering seeing this kind of thing in Quebec media, but if you know of examples, please share them.

[ekul]

It's not really a story though, it's just a piece of reporting. Somebody won something and it was reported. It's not really national news but it's the type of news that's in local newspapers all the time.

[freethought]

[eIn07912]

umm... I don't get it. What's your fuss about this? It seems like a perfectly pleasent "page filler" kind of story. Maybe the link has been changed, it's about the girl and Olympic values, right?

This doesn't come across as "showey" or anything to me. Just a "hey look, this girl who's studying abroad caught the attention of the International Olympic Committee" that's kind of cool actually.

I know a paper back home did a story on my buddy when he came here to teach. I see that as even less note worthy to write about, "hey look, one of us is going over there to earn money and *beep* around."

Perhaps I'm missing something here. Could you explain your opinion on all this?

[freethought]

Just to be 100% clear, I am not making a fuss about these stories. I am simply trying to understand why they are published.

I am not judging. I am not attacking.

I am asking a question, because I am not sure I know the answer.

My opinion is reflected in the questions I ask. I think part of it is nationalism, the korean being a highly nationalistic people. I think part of it is light reading/celebration, as you say.

I am also curious as to whether these types of stories appear in domestic foreign/2nd language newspapers in other countries.

[detourne_me]

It's a "hometown kid makes good" story.
It's good news for a change.
Cripes, It's about a few students that won an International competition for the IOC.
A while back i won an international short film award too, and although i wasn't featured in a national paper, there were a few articles to feel proud of.

Also, keep this in mind, it's the Chosun Ilbo's English section, it's probably hard enough for the journalists to find good content that would appeal to readers. This just seems like a story that would appeal to the international demographic.

[Manuel_the_Bandito]

[eIn07912]

I didn't mean to imply you were attacking it. I agree they are extremely nationalistic, but this piece seems fairly mundane to me. A lot like stuff I've read in the newspapers back home. I imagine if there was some greater thing to write about, this would get pushed aside. But that someone made a video that got the IOC interested and then invited them to the meeting in Copenhagen seems rather news worthy to me. If it were me, I'd hope my local newspaper would do the same.

You want to read unreasonably, chest beating, nationalistic bull turds, try any of the "foreigners give AIDS to our women" stories. Or how "English teachers are faking their degrees to come molest our children" blah. That stuff makes me want to vomit. They take one story about one guy and blast the whole foreign population with it. When that whole Chris Oneil (perv that posted himself and kids from thailand online) went down, man, those were rough days. Every headline was about how they need to screen all teachers here. How we all need criminal checks (even though that guy had never been arrested before) and the foreigner hat went through the roof.

[ryoga013]

Little news in their world that they wanted to publish so they chose to write something uplifting rather than degrading about their little peninsula .

[UknowsI]

Yesterday I found myself asking, what is the agenda of Arirang TV? It's Korea's international TV channel, but it's not exactly like BBC international. Arirang TV seem to struggle very hard to be politically correct, but still many of their reports are very biased and nationalistic. Yesterday I was watching a documentary about how Korean army is #1 and they can make everything from planes, battleships and rifles domestic and as good as or better than any other country. They seem to send these kind of programs quite often.

[fermentation]

I kinda get what the OP is alluding to, I think. The Korean media has a tendency to find and report anything that puts Korea in a positive light. They seem to have an obsession with Koreans (or even part-Koreans) acheiving something in other countries, even if that achievement isn't very significant. It's nationalistic, but I don't think its that big of a deal, and many other countries do the same. Its just one of those things that the average person can read and feel better about himself.