Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SpecialK]

Hey everyone. Just wondering for those that read one or both of these newspapers which one do you prefer? I've been thinking of subscribing to one of them as a way to keep up to date on local events so I will get more active while in Korea. What do you all think?

[fidel]

If I were you I wouldn't bother. Korean news generally consists of political drivel, and everything else seems to be sanatised for foreign consumption. You will never read about road deaths, murders, other crime, human interest stories, in depth articles etc. Best to go for the International Herald Tribune which has the Joongan daily as a supplement. That, and read the other papers online .

[Harpeau]

Agreed. International Tribune.

[Derrek]

[Cthulhu]

IHT without a doubt. You will actually look forward to reading the news as opposed to wishing you hadn't when opening the pages of those other two rags.

[the saint]

It's a simple choice. One of them has Dilbert and Calvin & Hobbes. The other has... nuffsaid

and why buy them for simply that when you can get all that and more at
http://www.stus.com/3majors.htm

The Financial Times isn't only finance you know.

[animalbirdfish]

Yup. Go with the IHT. It's slightly more expensive, I think (20,000 won/month compared to 14,000 for the KT or KH), but worth the difference.

I used to get so frustrated reading articles in the KT or KH that were obviously ended at random places rather than where intended, or which lacked any editing whatsoever. And as an above poster said, most of the Korean news that foreigners get here is pretty uninteresting. Keep an eye on sites like the Marmot's Hole for some of the more interesting - if tabloidesque - happenings in the ROK.

[mindmetoo]

The english papers (KH, KT, and the IHT Korean insert) all get their news from the same news pool. They even run the same photos. "It's chusok. Here's a photo of a white woman in a hanbok! Ha ha!"

For me it comes down to comic strips and arts reporting. There is at least some small differences in arts/life reporting.

The IHT is expensive but you can read it for free at Starbucks. Trust me. You can read it free. The box has a little hole to stick money but I've been told by two Starbucks employee that the paper is there for you to read in store for free. They're just not allowed, by law, to promote it as free.

The deal is, to prevent one Chaebol from trying to take over the newspaper business by starting a paper price war and putting all the other news tissues out of business, the government makes it illegal to give away a daily. You must charge money for a daily. You will notice Seoul has a large number of daily papers and that is ultimately good for a democracy, providing a range of editorial voices. Consider America where the only really voices in opposition to the Gulf War and many Bush policies have been the daily papers, while TV beholden to the FTC, just spouts a Bush line with very little critical commentary.

Now imagine Samsung wants to take over the paper business and gives away the paper and advertising for free for half a decade and puts all the other papers out of business... One paper, one volk, ein samsung...

Sunday I like to pop around to Kyobo Books or a major hotel and pick up copies of the Financial Times and the Asian Wall Street Journal.

[just because]

I also read(on occasion when i can get it as in changwon it is not for sale) the IHT and reccomend it.

For korean papers the koreatimes online is a good laugh as they have a comments section at the bottom. It actually seems better than their print edition as you don't have to put up with the obvious promotional crap that Samsung and Hyundai are paying them to put in.

[HamuHamu]

The easiest (and thus best, in my opinion ) crossword puzzle is in the Korea Herald.

And that's all that either of the two papers in question are worth.

WHY can't Korea come up with at least a WEEKLY paper that has the quality of every other major capital city? "Hub of Asia"

[paperbag princess]

the IHT gets their news from the NY times and is significantly better than the other two crap-o papers available to us.

you can always get your paper from home on-line if you're into that kind of thing.

[tzechuk]

[the saint]