ADRN

The KF Korea Workshop is hosted by the Korea Foundation(KF) and organized by the East Asia Institute(EAI) to promote and share understanding of Korean social, political and economic issues among international residents in Korea.

For the third lecture of 2019 KF Korea Workshop 2, Professor Jie-Ae Sohn of Ewha Womans University’s Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) spoke about “Journalism Today and Tomorrow” under the theme of [Korean Mass Media].

By sharing anecdotes about her previous experiences as a bureau chief, correspondent and reporter, Professor Sohn discussed how news production and consumption processes have changed greatly throughout the past decades. In particular, she talked about how the introduction of a 24-hour news system and “fast-news” such as CNN, which was also commonly referred to as the “chicken noodle network,” shifted the global media platform. Furthermore, whereas news depended on professional journalists and reporters in the past, in the present, common people also hold the power to upload and share news through channels including social media and Youtube.

Throughout her lecture and Q&A session, Professor Sohn emphasized the importance of trust and reliability in current media. For example, she highlighted the dangers that come with the expansion of artificial intelligence, including the production of “fake news.” In sum, she advised that we, as media connoisseurs, need to develop the ability to discern trustworthy media from those that are potentially vice.