Shortcut to Rebuilding Public Trust: Fact-Checking Journalism by YNA in South Korea

Asian Journal of Media and Communication E-ISSN: 2579-6119, P-ISSN: 2579-6100 Volume 8, Number 1, 2024 DOI: 10.20885/asjmc.vol8.iss1.art2 Shortcut to Rebuilding Public Trust: Fact-Checking Journalism by YNA in South Korea Jae Sik Ha University of Illinois at Springfield, United States Abstract. This study investigated how the emergence and practice of a factchecking movement in South Korea have assisted the revival of journalism with a primary focus on truth-seeking and information verification. It examined in what ways Yonhap News Agency (YNA), a leading news agency in South Korea, fact-checked social and political issues, as well as the COVID19 pandemic. This study employed in-depth interviews with fact-checking journalists at YNA. In addition to that, to trace YNA’s fact-checking activities and cross-check the findings from the interviews, this study conducted textual analysis of YNA’s fact-checking articles, examining their claims, evidence, and judgments. This study found that YNA’s fact-checking services contributed to preventing the spread of the ‘infodemic’ in South Korea. YNA’s fact-checking journalism can be considered as one form of ethical journalism that ensured incorrect information did not pass through journalistic gates in the pre-internet era. This study underscores the significance of fact-checking journalism in enhancing the quality of journalism worldwide. Article History Submitted February 13, 2024 Accepted November 27, 2024 Published November 30, 2024 Keywords: Fact-checking; South Korea; Yonhap News Agency; ethical journalism; Covid-19 pandemic. 1. Introduction Since the early 2010s, the proliferation of social networking services and the Internet has made South Korea fertile ground for misinformation, disinformation, and false narratives that influence political processes (Tworek & Lee, 2021). This spread of polluted information has been fueled by intense confrontations between political parties, deep ideological divisions, widening wealth gaps, and generational hostility. One pivotal moment for the dissemination of falsehoods was the 2017 impeachment of President Park Geun-hye on charges of corruption and abuse of power (Lim, 2017). Supporters of Park alleged that the accusations against her were fictitious and that her impeachment was orchestrated by corrupt journalists colluding with liberal politicians. However, it should also be noted that misinformation and disinformation, characterized by false, deceptive, and defamatory narratives, have flourished inside a network of information and communication in South Korea throughout the 2010s. Messages inciting hatred and animosity have corrupted public discourse and democratic processes. In the 2012 presidential election, which elected President Park, Won Sei-hoon, the director of the National Intelligence Services (NIS), directed a disinformation campaign against Moon Jae-in, the candidate of the opposition party (Tworek & Lee, 2021). This operation utilized Copyright © 2024 Authors. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licences/by-sa/4.0/) 21 Volume 8, Number 1, 2024, 21-36 thousands of fake Twitter accounts to malign Park’s opponents in the run-up to the election. Moreover, following the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster, which claimed 304 lives, including 250 high school students, numerous rumors and conspiracies circulated on platforms like YouTube and KakaoTalk (a South Korean messaging application). These incidents significantly eroded public trust in the news media and journalists. An emblematic example of the ensuing ‘media bashing’ was the term ‘Giregi’, a neologism blending ‘trash’ and ‘journalist’, popularized during the Sewol tragedy in 2014 (Lim, 2017). This term encapsulates public disappointment and animosity toward journalists and mainstream media outlets. Conversely, conservative factions, supportive of President Park, decried news outlets that exposed her political corruption as purveyors of fake news. This pressure compelled South Korean news outlets to verify information and present the truth, counteracting the dissemination of fake news. Against this backdrop, the fact-checking phenomenon gained traction during the 2017 presidential election, with several media outlets initiating fact-checking projects. Notable among these were the JTBC’s (Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company) ‘Fact Check’, the Ilyo Daily’s (a weekly newspaper) ‘Truth or False Poll’, the Newstapa’s (a news outlet focusing on investigative journalism) ‘Really?’, and OhmyNews’ (an online news outlet for citizen journalism) ‘OhmyFact’ (Lim, 2017). Introduced between 2013 and 2015, these projects aimed to restore public faith in journalism following the Sewol incident and President Park’s impeachment. The 2017 presidential election served as a catalyst for establishing fact-checking as a recognized journalistic practice in South Korea. Furthermore, since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the world has grappled with a deluge of misinformation and disinformation. South Korea’s effective response to COVID-19 has been hindered by false information proliferating across online communities, social media, and mainstream outlets. This study investigates how the emergence and practice of fact-checking in South Korea have facilitated the revival of journalism, focusing on truth-seeking and information verification. Specifically, this study examines how the Yonhap News Agency (YNA), South Korea’s leading news provider, has executed its fact-checking endeavors. By conducting textual analysis of fact-checking stories and in-depth interviews with YNA’s fact-checking reporters, the present study examined YNA’s independent fact-checking efforts. This study offers valuable insights into the extent to which fact-checking by South Korean news outlets may have forestalled the occurrence of the ‘infodemic’, characterized by an overabundance of information, both accurate and inaccurate, hindering people’s ability to find trustworthy sources (Pan American Health Organization, 2020). By examining the case of fact-checking journalism in South Korea, this research delves into the unique Korean model of fact-checking, thereby enhancing global awareness of the fact-checking movement and its philosophy, processes, and verification methods as exemplified by YNA. 2. Literature review In 2020 and 2021, misinformation and disinformation regarding the coronavirus have impeded effective efforts to combat the disease globally. Many individuals were unwitting victims of the falsehoods and conspiracy theories surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic (Romano, 2020; Stone, 2021). Before this period, false information had permeated across borders and within nations, influencing events, such as England’s Brexit vote, Donald Trump’s 2016 U.S. presidential election victory, and ethnic cleansing in Myanmar (Ahmed, 22 Jae S (...truncated)