This volume, National Security and the Media in South Korea: Newspaper, TV, Internet, Social Media and their Competition for Influence, plans to show the media influence in security with social media as the third actor in the media-government symbiosi ...
This volume, National Security and the Media in South Korea: Newspaper, TV, Internet, Social Media and their Competition for Influence, plans to show the media influence in security with social media as the third actor in the media-government symbiosis through several cases of North Korea’s provocations; the sinking of ROKS Chonan, the shelling of Yonpyong Island, and nuclear and missile test, and so forth. Doing so would illuminate the fact that most ideological conflict such as debates between pro-Americanism and anti-Americanism, and between security-first and unification-first is rooted in the difference in views about North Korea. Thus, public opinion on security has become highly dependent on public perception about North Korea. In particular, I seek to explain how variables on different levels of analysis are introduced into the security policy making, how trade-offs between security and civil liberty are affected and how messages and news stories distributed through the social media differ from those reported by the traditional media outlets such as newspapers and TV news. In doing so, I focus on their impact on South Korea’s policy making vis-à-vis North Korea’s provocative foreign policy including its nuclear threat.
This volume first introduces and develops theoretical debates over the correlation between the media and national security. In particular, this part of the volume focuses on such issues as conflict between civil liberty and censorship for security, the presence of the media in all levels of analysis in policy making process, the effect of frame or framing with intentional and unintentional distortion, and the consequent media contribution to ideological debates in the South Korean society.
Then, in the second part of the volume, it moves to analyze media influence in the making of foreign and security policy in South Korea. This part compares influences of various media companies with respective ideological stances. In addition, comparison between media types — press, TV, Internet and social networking service (SNS) — in their respective influences on policy making probes evolutionary transition of government-media relations with the involvement of citizens who post, blog and twit their opinions about foreign and security affairs.
The final part of the volume demonstrates several sensitive cases that induce public engagement and media attention in South Korea: North Korean provocations, anti-Americanism and anti-Japan sentiment. The sinking of ROKS Chonan and the shelling of Yeonpyong Island are just two exemplary cases since the South Korean public has demonstrated ambivalence between sympathy and antagonism over continued provocations. G.I. crimes against female victims, trade pressure and perception of inequality have triggered anti-Americanism. For its part, Tok-do, comfort women and apology for colonial rule have been main source of anti-Japan sentiment.
In sum, this volume’s contribution may be categorized into three. Theoretically, the volume contributes to the literature of security policy making by constructing a South Korean model of government-media link in the era of the social media. For academic richness, the volume probes various actors and issues evolving around the media-government link; competition between media, check and balance between the parliament and the media, and the role and responsibility of the media in ideological debates. Lastly, case studies provide chronological facts and data for future analysis as well as supporting evidence of the model suggested in the first part of the volume.