Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Widsy97]

Hello,

I recently read a story about 'Rain', you know, the 'world star', being voted the most influential person on Time magazines '100 most influential people of 2011'.

I continued to read the story and turned out he beat, Obama, Oprah, etc. etc.

This was on a well known online Korean (English) newspaper.

I was skeptical. So, I researched it.

NOWHERE, on the Time website is this story carried.

Googling the story brings me to Korean websites (in Korean).

I emailed the writer of the story about the accuracy of the story.

The reply;
Hi there,

The story was first reported by Yonhap News, a Korean news agency. Other Korean newspapers also wrote the story based on this report by Yonhap. The report was in Korean and the stories covered in other Korean newspapers were also in Korean (obviously). Since the story is based on the poll results revealed by TIME magazine online, you may check out the facts yourself on the website although no story has yet been written by TIME. I think the story will be published soon in the magazine carrying the results.

Thank you for taking interest in our article and I hope you continue reading.

Best regards,
**********. (I blocked the name)

Now, the way I read that reply is; Time magazine haven't published the story yet... so, how do Korean news agencies have it??

Also, before people get on me about being a Korean hater.....
I have been here a long time, it has been great, but stressful and depressing at times. Korea is great. I don't hate it. But, alot of things I see annoy me recently.
I think I have been here too long! Roll on June!

Also, I know newspapers at home publish shite all the time! But at least you have a vast selection of news sources at home, so you dont have to put up with crap.
Here, as an English speaker, we rely on only 2-3 sources of Korean news. I mean, I read news from home all the time, online, from credible sources. But when I want to know what is going on in this country, I'm left with this shite.

Also, since I emailed them, I cannot find the story on their site.

[Geumchondave]

The rankings are up already http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2058044_2061021_2061023,00.html with rain clearly in top spot, i havent yet found an article analyzing/summarizing the results yet so that is probably what their reply meant. Its ridiculous that he should have won but it is true. As far as journalism bias goes here - yes it is flagrant and often very bigoted but ive yet to actually discover a factual error, normally its just a lot more sensationalist then we are used to - not actually wrong.

[nathanrutledge]

The fact that he won should be surprising to no one. 20 bucks says that there was a big online push in Korea to get him voted number one, as this is a READER poll.

As far as your original question, OP, I've found that no matter where you are, there are good and bad sources of news and that frequently they change. I've always tried to read two or three different sources on a single story before I feel like I have a real understanding of what's going on.

In Korea, my main go-to papers are the Joongang Ilbo and the Hankyoreh. I'll read the Times, Herald, Chosun-ilbo (talk about a right wing mouth piece, and I AM a right winger, so that should tell you something). There are plenty of sources of English news in Korea, it's just that they aren't all as well known as the Times (ugh) or Herald (meh).

[Smee]

Time magazine hasn't published it yet because they're waiting for the next issue. However, in the most recent issue there's a blurb in one of the first few pages about the online voting, with a picture of Rain as the winner.

Plenty of reason to be skeptical of what you read---both in Korea and outside of it---and plenty of reason to be skeptical of what you read from western sources about Korea, because they seem to value "news of the weird" over anything original or of substance. But, in this case, Rain did win. He's won numerous times, even though he hasn't had a career in Korea in several years and his several attempts at becoming an American star have failed, grandly.

[rainism]

[cj1976]

[rainism]

[decolyon]

Does no one remember that this exact same thing happened a few years ago? Same online Time poll and everything. Rain was voted number 1 and Stephen Colbert was number 2. Then Colbert had this whole running gag about it where he parodied one of Rain's songs and then Rain came on his show and they had a dance off (it was epic) and even today Colbert throws in a "RAAAIIIN!" scream every time he talks about his archnemesis.

Anyways, every time a Western news outlet has an online poll of anything related to music or entertainment, the Korean netizens mobilize and vote multiple times for their representative. It means nothing to the vast consumers of Western media but it makes the Koreans think they've somehow accomplished something.

Funny, the same year they first got Rain to the top of the online poll, the Wonder Girls were at their peak. And when the Grammys rolled around, The Wonder Girls weren't even mentioned. They showed them for about 2 seconds sitting in the audience and that was it. The next day Korean blogs and middle schoolers around the country were shocked and outraged that they didn't win like artist of the year or whatever.

It's something they have failed to grasp. Just because something is huge and ingrained in every facet of the popular culture here, does not mean that it even registers to the rest of the world.

[Steelrails]

[rainism]

[RangerMcGreggor]

[decolyon]

[Steelrails]