''Chojoongdong'' (), abbreviated as CJD, is a pejorative term
which refers to three highly circulated conservative
newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
s in South Korea.
The word is an acronym of
''The'' ''Chosun Ilbo'', ''
JoongAng Ilbo
''The JoongAng'', formerly known as ''JoongAng Ilbo'' (), is a South Korean daily newspaper published in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the three biggest newspapers in South Korea, and a newspaper of record for South Korea. The paper also pu ...
'' and ''
The Dong-A Ilbo'' newspapers, and the grouping is seen as forming the basis of South Korea's conservative media.
The term was used by ''
The Hankyoreh
''The Hankyoreh'' () is a centre-left liberal daily newspaper in South Korea. It was established in 1988 after widespread purges forced out dissident journalists, and was envisioned as an alternative to existing newspapers, which were regarde ...
'' editor Jung Yeonju () in October 2000.
Korean liberals and
progressives criticize ''Chojoongdong'' primarily because of their
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
-biased editorial stances and doing business in a collusive and surreptitious manner. Since 2008, some critics of CJD have claimed that there is a close relationship between CJD and the
Lee Myung-bak government
The Cabinet of Lee Myung-bak () was the fifth government of the History of South Korea#Sixth Republic (1988–present), Sixth Republic of South Korea. It took office on 25 February 2008 after Lee Myung-bak's victory in the 2007 South Korean presid ...
.
As of 2010, the market share of ''Chosun'', ''Joong-ang'' and ''Dong-a Ilbo'' is 24.3%, 21.8%, and 18.3%, respectively.
Nearly 58% of printed newspaper subscribers in South Korea read one of the three daily news. In December 2011, ''Chosun Ilbo'' opened their own cable news network.
Criticisms
Opponents of the three major newspapers credit them with a disproportionate degree of influence and power, to the extent that they believe that simply abolishing them would unleash major positive changes (one of the most prominent anti-newspaper organizations is called "Beautiful World Without ''Chojoongdong''"). Although the major newspapers are private organisations, and are competitors with each other, they are nevertheless considered by their opponents to be a monolithic, quasi-governmental organization. Criticism stems from their previous history of collaboration with Japan in the
Japanese occupation of 1910–1945. (the ''
JoongAng Ilbo
''The JoongAng'', formerly known as ''JoongAng Ilbo'' (), is a South Korean daily newspaper published in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the three biggest newspapers in South Korea, and a newspaper of record for South Korea. The paper also pu ...
'', however did not exist during the Japanese occupation), as well as their collaboration with domestic authoritarian rule before the democratic transition in 1987.
Censorship
Some critics say CJD newspapers have conservative tendencies of censoring news unfavorable to the conservative
Lee Myung-bak government
The Cabinet of Lee Myung-bak () was the fifth government of the History of South Korea#Sixth Republic (1988–present), Sixth Republic of South Korea. It took office on 25 February 2008 after Lee Myung-bak's victory in the 2007 South Korean presid ...
. Jung Woon-hyun accused the three newspapers of censoring
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is a non-profit media organisation and publisher of leaked documents. It is funded by donations and media partnerships. It has published classified documents and other media provided by anonymous sources. It was founded in 2006 by ...
-related articles that is alleged to have exposed negative issues under President
Lee Myung-bak
Lee Myung-bak (; born 19 December 1941), often referred to by his initials MB, is a South Korean businessman and politician who served as the tenth president of South Korea from 2008 to 2013. Before his presidency, he was the CEO of Hyundai Engi ...
's administrative influence. It has also broadcast the court decisions that acquitted MBC's
PD Note and its episode on 2008 Beef protests, but agreed that false information was in the episode.
Accusation of strategic marriages
Opponents believe that CJD have joined with the business world through strategic marriages, making their articles biased towards capital.
Pro Korea-U.S. Free Trade agreement
There was some criticism that three CJD newspapers simultaneously presented articles about the danger of negative Free Trade Agreement rumors on the
South Korea–United States Free Trade Agreement among South Korean
social network service
A social networking service (SNS), or social networking site, is a type of online social media platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career content, interests ...
users, particularly on
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
.
Promotion of English
The CJD newspapers were noted to be active agents in the promotion of the
English language
English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
in South Korea.
Anti-CJD movements
"Anti-CJD sentiment" has existed in the past. However, in 2008, during the
mad cow protests over US beef imports that were feared to cause
variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, the major newspapers showed a favourable attitude towards market opening and reported negatively on the
Candlelight Revolution. This opposition temporarily stimulated a boycott movement. Protesters attacked and vandalised the buildings of the three major newspapers, and CJD newspapers claim that some of their employees were harassed.
Boycott movement
During the
mad cow protests,
Internet activists launched a movement to
boycott
A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...
advertisers who put advertisements in those newspapers. They shared a list of advertisers on the Internet, and then pressured advertisers by launching a harassment campaign via telephone or mail.
On February 19, 2009, the court found guilty some activists who organised and ran the boycott, sentencing them to 10 months in jail (on a two-year suspended sentence) or fines. The defendants have indicated that they will launch an appeal.
In popular culture
The South Korean television comedy program,
Gag Concert
''Gag Concert'' () is a South Korean sketch-comedy television show more commonly known as ''Gag Con'' (). It began airing on 4 September 1999 and aired its last episode on 26 June 2020, making it South Korea's longest-running comedy show. It st ...
, lampooned the CJD media establishments as ''turfs'' by gangsters who comply with the regulations of the
Korea Communications Commission in the skit, War On Television ().
See also
*
JTBC
JTBC (shortened from Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company; ; stylized in all lowercase) is a South Korean nationwide pay television network. Its primary shareholder is JoongAng Holdings, with a 25% stake. It was launched on December 1, ...
*
Partido da Imprensa Golpista
''Partido da Imprensa Golpista'' (''PiG'', ) is a term used by left-wing Brazilian websurfers since 2007 to characterize an alleged attitude of the Brazilian mass media towards President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during the Brazilian general el ...
- a similar Brazilian phenomenon
References
{{reflist, 35em
External links
The Press and Democracy in South Korea - A Survey of Print Journalists' Opinionsby Eun Suk SA
/nowiki> Boycott the ChoJoongDong broadcasts' celebration]
Conservatism in South Korea
Media bias controversies
Newspapers published in South Korea
2000 neologisms