Korea Web Paper Strikes a Blow for Media Democracy

Source: New York Times, March 6, 2003 "For years, people will be debating what made [South Korea] go from conservative to liberal, from gerontocracy to youth culture and from staunchly pro-American to a deeply ambivalent ally - all seemingly overnight. ... But for many observers, the most important agent of change has been the Internet. ... In the last year, as the elections were approaching, more and more people were getting their information and political analysis from spunky news services on the Internet instead of from the country's overwhelmingly conservative newspapers. Most influential by far has been a feisty three-year-old startup with the unusual name of OhmyNews. ... 'The professional news culture has eroded our journalism,' [founder Oh Yeon Ho] said, 'and I have always wanted to revitalize it. Since I had no money, I decided to use the Internet, which has made this guerrilla strategy possible. ... Pat Robertson and I are very different in temperament and ideology, but we are very similar in strategy,' said Mr. Oh ... . 'They are very right-wing and wanted to overthrow what they saw as a liberal media establishment. I wanted to overthrow a right-wing media establishment, and I learned a lot from them.' "