Talk:Mass media in North Korea/Archive 1

Influence on way of life
See example: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4157121.stm

Does the media control the lives of North Korean people? --  李博杰   | —Talk contribs 06:38, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Fake South Korean Propaganda Radio
"Radio stations include Pyongyang Radio, Central Radio and Propaganda Radio – the latter of which purports to be broadcasting from South Korea when it actually broadcasts north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone."

This would be an amazing claim if true, but the link for the source is dead - can anyone find an alternate reference supporting this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by FOARP (talk • contribs) 09:05, 26 July 2012 (UTC)

What someone might find weird, others would not
At 00:11 on 23 August 2014‎ HeadlessMaster (talk) | contribs) removed a paragraph from the article with an edit summary saying "complete PoV (what someone might find weird, others would not)". At 00:59 on 23 August 2014 I restored the paragraph with an edit summary saying "restore sourced content". At 01:26 on 23 August 2014 HeadlessMaster removed the paragraph again with an edit summary saying "I don't want an edit war (you can see my edit history and see that I am not a troll), but the "reference" is a South Korean-based journalist, expressing opinion ("point of view") on something that can't be reliably proven". Right now the paragraph is not included in the article, but I think it should be restored. I am hoping to get some additional opinions from other editors here.

The paragraph in question was added to the section on "Television and radio" as part of a larger edit by HangingCurve on 9 January 2012. The paragraph reads:
 * Compared to Western newscasts, North Korean newscasts are very melodramatic in style. KCTV's principal newsreader from 1974 to 2012, Ri Chun-hee, was well known for the wavering, lofty tone she used in praising the nation's leaders and the hateful one she used in denouncing the West. Many North Korean journalists who have defected to the South have noted the contrasts with the more conversational South Korean broadcasting style.

I see this paragraph a describing the tone of the newscasts more than expressing an opinion. I don't think the fact that a journalist is South Korean-based is relevant here as long as the source cited is reliable and exercises some editorial oversight over its stories, which I assume PRI's The World does. And it may not be true. There is more than one person involved in the story. Jason Strother is an American journalist. Brian Myers "is an American associate professor of international studies at Dongseo University in Busan, South Korea, best known for his works regarding North Korean history."

In any case Wikipedia isn't limited to just those statements that can be "reliably proven" in some absolute sense. Wikipedia's Neutral point of view policies do not prohibit opinions as long as the resulting articles are neutral, that is, they must represent "... fairly, proportionately, and, as far as possible, without bias, all of the significant views that have been published by reliable sources on a topic." WP:YESPOV says in part that "... the neutral point of view does not mean exclusion of certain points of view, but including all verifiable points of view which have sufficient due weight."

I plan to restore the paragraph unless a strong consensus to the contrary develops here over the next few days.
 * --Jeff Ogden (W163) (talk) 15:14, 25 August 2014 (UTC)


 * If you want to restore what is in the article, and if most of you agree, I'll accept it, despite extremely strongly disagreeing with it. However, the following section (and most doubtful for me) isn't in the "source": "Compared to Western newscasts, North Korean newscasts are very melodramatic in style." So, even if the "sourced" part of the paragraph would be restored, this sentence should be removed. I am not a native English speaker, but I found the definition that the word "melodramatic" means "exaggerated and emotional or sentimental; sensational or sensationalized; overdramatic", just as it means in my language, and that surely has negative meaning about it. It's better to use "emotional" or something like that, but as it isn't in the source, there shouldn't even be discussion about including it. Forthermore, "denouncing the West" also isn't very correct, as Korea is almost the eastmost country in the world, plus it has alies in the western world (Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, etc.). "Denouncing non-friendly regimes and countries and/or actiones by those regimes/countries" would be more correct. "Praising the nation's leaders" is another misleading claim as it isn't "whole truth", the same tone is/was used for sport and technological accomplishments and similar things non related to the Korean government. HeadlessMaster (talk) 20:51, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

How about this wording--"North Korean newscasts are known for their showmanship. KCTV's principal newsreader from 1974 to 2012, Ri Chun-hee, was well known for the wavering, lofty tone she used when praising the nation's leaders and the hateful one she used in denouncing countries seen as hostile to the regime.  Many North Korean journalists who have defected to the South have noted the contrasts with the more conversational South Korean broadcasting style." Oh, and the source does mention that Ri used the wavering tone in praising the nation's leaders. HangingCurveSwing for the fence 22:10, 25 August 2014 (UTC)


 * Excellent :) I would just replace the word "lofty", which is more conversational, with some more official synonym. I know the source says "nation's leaders", but there are videos showing it is not the only usage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHHrTp96yog, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7J2Nnl7Ano , etc. IMHO, the videos are as valid source as the interview. Also, "He and his colleagues" is not "many journalists", but "some journalists". HeadlessMaster (talk) 22:32, 25 August 2014 (UTC)

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