Skip to main content

Newspaper editors and writers are whistling past the graveyard



Idiom: "Whistling past the graveyard"

Re: Newspaper industry

Prediction: The Korea Times and/or Korea Herald will stop printing within 10 years.

"Whistling past the graveyard" is an old idiom/saying suggesting that someone is trying to make the best of a dire situation. Some people whistling past the graveyard these days are people who work in the newspaper industry. I wish I had bookmarked it, I remember reading a Korea Times commentary about two or three years ago in which a Korea Times columnist or editor was saying that newspapers wouldn’t die. I was laughing so much at the article, I wish I had blogged about it.

* * *

In 2010,  I gave a speech to the reporters on the Ewha Voice, an English-language newspaper at Ewha Woman’s University. I invited Heosong Kim of YTN to join me. The ladies asked me what advice I would give them. I gave them plenty of advice, including: Don’t plan on having a career at a newspaper.

The wonderful ladies at the Ewha Voice. Thanks to Kimmy for organizing the event and to Hoesong Kim for also speaking that night.

* * *

I am old-fashioned enough that I still subscribe to newspapers. I am reading again on a regular basis, so last week I emailed both the Korea Times and Korea Herald to start receiving the newspaper. The Korea Herald answered about an hour later.

The Korea Times? I still haven’t heard from them. I did follow up with a second email. Perhaps
someone will read the email and respond soon.

* * *


The Korea Times recently ran a cute little article: "Learning English through newspapers."


Photo #1: Teacher using the online version of the Korea Times


Photo #2: A stack of newspapers that may have had some studying asking, "Do they still print newspapers?"


Well, okay, they won’t be asking that question for another 5-10 years. The point the Korea Times is missing/hoping people won’t realize is that people who want to read the news want to READ. Newspaper, iPAD, iPHONE, online paper, blogs, etc.

Newspapers may have made sense at one time,
but so many are already dying, going digital, laying off staff, losing money, losing circulation. And these times may be remembered as the good times in the future.

Definitely some newspapers will remain
around, but most of them will go digital or bankrupt.

* * *

In a commentary in today’s Korea Times, executive managing director Lee Chang-sup tells some truth, writing:  

* According to a survey by the Korea Press Foundation (KPF), in 2012, newspapers incurred a loss even though sales rose by 4.6 percent.

* While 82 percent of the respondents in the KPF’s 2002 survey said they read newspapers, only 40.9 percent said so in the survey for last year.

* The KPF reported online media posted
an increase of 23 percent in sales and 5 percent in profit last year.

"The KPF predicts this decline will continue as
readers switch further to free online news."

Ah! But don\"t they know the value of reading English newspapers--or is it that they want to read the news but aren\"t loyal to the particular source?  He notes that there the ideological divide in Korea has spilled over into the newspapers. Apparently Korea’s all-or-nothing society is reflected in its newspapers.

* * *

People like reading more than they like
newspapers. Newspapers have so many weaknesses now. The digital age is an obvious one. But why is the digital age such a threat. For one, it lowers the cost of delivering information. Two, it does so in real time.
Three, people want to choose what they want. Newspapers give you a little bit of everything, and well after the time that I have read about it somewhere else. The sports scores? Yes, the local papers have one or two pages of sports. I can read those--or hang out at ESPN.com and read many stories about a variety of topics.

North Korea? Yes, I can read the local papers--or spend hours online reading commentary from a host of Websites. If you call in love with a particular delivery form--and your audience has moved on to another well?

Lee Chang-sup made many great points, but we part on a few points. And even when I agree with his point, there is still a problem with his analysis.

* * *
Like a lot of print journalists,

* he criticizes online media for making mistakes.
* being sensationalist.
* forego credible sources and proper attribution (including taking a swipe at Wikipedia).
* and then, as is the habit of many journalists, blames the readers.

Criticism of Online Media 

* Making mistakes

Back in the 1990s, plenty of reporters were blaming online media for making mistakes. But then, print reporters were also making many mistakes. This is the Early Adapter Effect. True, in the beginning of a new cause, technology or way of doing business, there are bound to be problems. But then, as those problems are getting fixed, some keep referring to the past.

There are plenty of examples of this, such as Japanese products. Young people may not know there was a time that Americans laughed at rinky-dinky Japanese products. Well, that was until those products got better. American labor unions and American manufacturers were still referring to those rinky-dinky products, even after they had surpassed American products.

The same is happening with online media. Sure, there is plenty of trash on it. Whatever you want to find on the Internet, you can find it (or you can be the first one to put it there). As long as print journalists keep acting like it is still 1995 then they won’t deal with the Great Disruptor that is the Internet.

* Being sensationalist

Of course, the Korea Times never tries to be sensationalist. Even when the Korea Times shares known Urban Legends "Getting organs stolen after a drinking binge" with its readers, it isn\"t trying to be sensationalist.

* forego credible sources and proper attribution (including taking a swipe at Wikipedia).

Again, this is an argument from the past being repeated. Wikipedia started in 2001--at that time, it was a joke. There have been problems with it, to be sure, but that is a snapshot view of life, not the dynamic form. Its got so many volunteers and workers. It is a great resource for finding information quickly.

Wikipedia says it has 35 million users--but I guess we shouldn’t trust that number because Wikipedia is the source...

* But my favorite point is when he blames readers.

Years ago, a friend of a friend was working as DJ. We were at his club one night--nobody was dancing. Did he start playing different tunes? No! Instead, he said, "These people don’t know good music."

Far too many times, I have heard reporters say the equivalent, "These people don’t know good reporting."

Lee says that readers are more interested in sex than serious political issues--and I don’t doubt that. 

I‘ve been engaged in numerous social causes. So many times, I wished that more people would join up with us. But you know what? I don’t complain about the people who aren’t there. I do my best with the people who are available. The Korea Times has plenty of readers (I guess). What are they doing with those readers now? What are they doing to reach other English-language speakers who would still like to read a newspaper? Should I forward him my emails to the paper twice asking for them to start sending me their newspapers?

But there is a deeper problem. I‘ve known enough journalists over the years to know that they think when they get criticized that they are doing a good job, that readers don’t understand. For a short time, I was a member of a few different journalism groups. And they’d all say the same thing: If both sides are angry at you, then that means you are doing your job.

My question: But what if you are really doing a lousy job? Everybody could be angry at you because you are a crummy journalist.

And that gets to a point: It is only in journalism that I hear the service providers openly complain about the customers. In other fields, people want to find out what their customers or potential customers want so they can provide them with that.

Popular posts from this blog

Walter E. Williams hosting Rush Limbaugh tomorrow

Check your local listings! By the way, my co-host Eliot Morgan and I interviewed Professor Walter E. Williams on the Casey Lartigue Show on April 28 and June 9 . We discussed reparations for slavery and the minimum wage mandate. To access the clips above at rapidshare: 1) scroll down to the bottom, hit the "free" button. 2) scroll down to the bottom, type in the password, hit download, then listen... Or, you can download the clips from yousendit, available for one week: June 9, WEW, segment 5 http://download.yousendit.com/F8A128C94CEAD09C June 9, WEW segment 6 http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=9800ABE6204647B3 April 28 http://download.yousendit.com/72FB5F4718BC06A1 CJL

2014-02-14 Yeon-Mi Park`s debut

Yeonmi Park, February 14, 2014, making her debut! Yesterday I was one of the speakers at a special session on North Korean refugees at the Canadian Maple International School. Wow, it was a wonderful time! * Yeon-Mi Park delivered her first major speech in English. She was wonderful! She told her story (35 minute speech without notes), discussed different aspects of North Korea, and then handled questions from students for more than an hour. She did seem to be nervous at the beginning-she took a deep breath just as she started, looked at me, then told her story from her heart. * Returning from the speech, I told Yeonmi that she had star potential. She told me that she didn't believe it, but I told her that the way she handled Q&A and told her story, I would be lucky to have her still returning my phone calls within a year. * The students had many questions. They have been learning about North Korea. They are now reading "Escape from Camp 14" featuring Shin Dong-h

2020-05-21 Goodbye, Katty Chi

I had heard through the grapevine and now it has been verified: Human rights activist Katty Chi has passed away. She is one of the first people that I met when I got involved in this cause. The first time was in 2012, at an event at the South Korea's National Assembly. She was super cool, one of my favorites as I used to say even when she was alive. And that is the important time to say such things, when people are alive. Whenever we met, I would say to her, "You know what happens when you meet me?" She would say, "Yeah. Time to take a photo?" I'm glad we did. And from Hyun S. Song, a close colleague of hers: And from Liberty in North Korea, the definitive announcement, August 4, 2020

2018-06-17 Jang Jinsung at TNKR Donor Appreciation Night

What’s better than having a well-known North Korean refugee author speak at your event? Having TWO well-known North Korean refugee authors speak at your event! TNKR held a special "Donor Appreciation NIght" featuring author Jinsung Jang. To make the night even more incredible, author Kang Cheol-Hwan 강철환 also joined the session. It was like a North Korean refugee superstar session. * Mr. Jang is author of several books, including "Dear Leader." * Mr. Kang is author of The Aquariums of Pyongyang. We were delighted to hold this session, co-sponsored by UniKorea, for donors and fundraisers who help keep TNKR alive. TNKR will be holding more events like this, set up a fundraiser so you can also get invited. https://give.lovetnkr.com/en/fundraisers Support TNKR: http://lovetnkr.org/donate/

Kakao Story character in blackface

Kakao Story is a popular app made by Kakao Talk (a wildly popular instant messaging system in South Korea). Scrolling thr ough my Kakao Talk updates, I came acros s t he following and figured out how to snap a photo of it. * Today is "Black Day" in Korea. That's the day that people who didn't celebrate "White Day" on February 14 (when women give men gifts) or "Valentine's Day" on March 14 (when men give women gifts) eat black noddles to mark their loneliness. I suspect the NAACP would not be amused by this Kakao Talk character--CJL