Citizen news podcasts and engaging journalism: The formation of a counter-public sphere in South Korea

Abstract

Abstract:This study examines what roles citizen news podcasts of South Korea play, based on two unique concepts-carnivalism and engaging journalism. To this end, the current study content analysed the content of 11 citizen news podcasts that are most popular in this country and conducted interviews with 10 professional journalists. The findings reveal that through the use of comedic techniques such as humour, parody, and satire, the discourse of citizen podcasts transgresses existing social and cultural hierarchies and subverts a range of authoritative discourses by mainstream media. The analysis also finds that the discourse in citizen news podcasts takes on the nature of engaging journalism, which motivates ordinary individuals who are left largely disillusioned from mainstream journalism to engage in elitechallenging political action. Professional journalists admitted that citizen news podcasts provide an opportunity to re-evaluate the journalism norms and practices of South Korea.

News Engagement on Social Media and Democratic Citizenship: Direct and Moderating Roles of Curatorial News Use in Political Involvement

“…Residents express their ideas, access diverse information, exchange opinions with others, and openly participate in the political process (Park & Karan, 2014). The Internet and subsequent digital tools stand out in a country in which the mainstream media have been remiss in providing a public forum of deliberative conversation and political participation (Park, 2017).…”

Understanding podcast users: Consumption motives and behaviors

“…It appears that downloadability and audio are even no longer the absolute, defining characteristics as podcasters and consumers are using YouTube as an important distribution platform and have started to talk about “video podcasts” (Colligan, 2018). Researchers have addressed podcasting in various contexts, such as education (Şendağ et al, 2018), health (Turner-McGrievy et al, 2013), journalism (Park, 2017), and media criticism (Von Krogh and Svensson, 2017). Some have examined specifically the media format itself, discussing its evolution, production, relationship with radio, and impact on the radio industry (Berry, 2016; McHugh, 2016; Morris and Patterson, 2015; Sellas and Solà, 2019).…”

Podcasting and Urban Planning

“…In post-Ferguson America, for example, African American podcasters recreated "iconic spaces of Black sociality like the barber/beauty shop or the church" by "cocooning" themselves in audio that mirrors conversations about their own issues in their own vernaculars that often do not appear in the broadcast public sphere (Florini, 2017). In South Korea, podcasts allowed citizens to engage in democratic conversations to challenge state control (Park, 2017). But community radio is not without its limitations in reimagining a public sphere.…”