VBB: Affecting the Outcome I: South Korea Case Study
Chair: John Palfrey, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School
Keynote Speaker and Panelist: Oh Yeon-ho, OhmyNews (South Korea)
Panelist: Stephen Ward, University of Salford and Oxford Internet Institute (UK)
Panelist: Rebecca MacKinnon, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, HLS
Panelist: Jeff Ooi, Malaysian blogger, news article with a familiar photo
Oh Yeon-ho claims citizen journalism began in South Korea. He reviewed the political changes in Korea and showed a video detailing what OhmyNews does. Oh believes the citizen journalist model works well for Korea because of negative public sentiment against the organizsations monopolizing the media, the number of people with Internet access, and demand for a change in the media. Younger people who grew up with computers and various communication technologies coming into power will continue to make such endeavors work and grow.
Stephen Ward: The ‘net is “top down,” able to be personalized, key for communication. For older politicians (like 50+ white males), going to meetings, shaking babies, kissing hands is still key to their campaign. Younger people are using technology. Using the Internet to campaign in a two party system might be more effective than using it in places with more than two political parties.
Rebecca MacKinnon: OhmyNews is important for emerging democracies. Some conservatives in Korea think OhmyNews is not objective. OhmyNews provides a balance with the other traditional kinds of media in South Korea. Can we really aspire to objective journalism with participatory journalism?
Jeff Ooi: He began with something that sounded like “All men are cremated equal.” Bloggers have a role to play in getting the story out , especially when things are going wrong. Some bloggers in Malaysia have been threatened for speaking out against the government.
Q: What’s happening in Europe?
A: Stephen: Not much that he knows of. It seems to be slow in Europe, but he doesn’t want to say much because he has limited knowledge.
An unidentified man in the audience chimed in.
Q: Esther Dyson: If consumers are producers and the audience produces things, too, what does that do to traditional media?
A: Oh: Credibility is an issue.
Rebecca: Can Wikinews have an objective viewpoint? Perhaps not because it relies on people who may not be objective. It might be better to drop claims of objectivity and just admit where biases might be.
Esther: This stuff may not be news, so positioning it as new may not be correct.
Rebecca: Many newspapers have biases and they still call themselves newspapers.
Q: from a Chinese blogger: ?
Rebecca: Only a regime change could bring Internet access to the North Koreans. People are beginning to sneak cell phones into North Korea. People close enough to cell towers along the borders can use them.
John Palfrey interrupts to plug Saturday’s sessions on international blogging.
Jeff: commented on how technological changes in Malaysia could change things.
Q: David S.: How did OhmyNews react to blog censorship when several linked to video of a Korean getting beheaded in Iraq?
A: Oh: We didn’t get to see the video. We didn’t pursue it because it was so horrible.
Q: Jay Rosen: “I think we’ll be able to say to journalists, ‘You’re not really bloggers.’” He addressed Esther Dyson’s comment that every blogger can be a journalist. Journalists can be great filters because they are trained to filter. We also need filters who can listen, report things, appear unbiased, have authority. But these filters still need to be accurate. We need all the parts.
Oh: Journalists need some kind of authority.
Q: A Brit: Bloggers need confidence. What do you do in deprived communities? How do you tap into liguistic expression?
John: plugged someone’s 9 am session on Saturday
Rebecca: The people who have the guts to speak out are going to be the people who speak. Tech tools are important, though. Give someone the right tool, they might speak.
