McKinsey reporter, BBC correspondent in Seoul, asks President Yoon Seok-yeol a question in English in the meeting room of the presidential office in Yongsan on the 9th. /YTN
What if a Washington DC correspondent is unable to report in English due to lack of English language proficiency and is unable to ask questions in English even when given the golden opportunity to ask questions to President of the United States Joe Biden or Republican candidate for President of the United States Donald Trump?
What would happen if a correspondent in Tokyo knew no Japanese and was simply sitting at his desk in Tokyo busy using Google Translate or Papago? What if a correspondent in Paris doesn’t speak French and can’t report or do anything without an interpreter?
What if a correspondent from Seoul sent to cover the situation in Korea, the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia couldn’t even read major Korean newspapers and only read English newspapers?
If you think about journalism, where the basic principle is to meet, see, listen and ask questions to the protagonists of the sector, such a correspondent is unlikely to receive a good grade.
When I worked in Gwanghwamun, whenever I had the chance, I liked to meet Seoul correspondents from British and American newspapers, broadcasters and news agencies and listen to their stories. Since I graduated with a degree in journalism, I had a vague expectation that I could learn something from journalists in countries with advanced journalism.
Indeed, I could feel the pride of being a journalist, the tenacity of digging deep into my black hair, my passion for learning and my professionalism towards foreign journalists. One correspondent stayed in Seoul for over 60 years and personally experienced major political events in Korea, so he knew Korean politics better than most Korean journalists. He told an anecdote about meeting Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang and showed a real photo that made us wonder what this person’s true identity was.
However, many, but not all, foreign journalists based in Seoul barely spoke Korean. “HI?” “Thank you” “How much does it cost?” He didn’t get much further than “My name is Jake (pseudonym).”
The Seoul correspondent posted to the headquarters of C Broadcasting Company, a representative news channel in the United States, was “blind to the Korean language” and could not even read the big headlines even when Korean newspapers were brought to him. So, this TV company hired so-called “dark-haired foreign reporters” and paid them a much lower salary than the reporters at the headquarters, and had them do all the translating, interpreting, reporting, recruiting and monitoring trends. .
Reuters Seoul correspondent Josh Smith asks a question. /YTN
The same goes for a famous English-language television station. In the past, this show’s foreign correspondent often created controversy by posting tweets that belittled Korean culture. However, this reporter had lived in Seoul for about three years and did not speak Korean when he arrived or left.
Many foreign journalists mainly encounter Koreans who speak English, and this is actually rare, and most of them experience Korean society by meeting foreigners living in Seoul.
At President Yoon Seok-yeol’s press conference on the 9th, the naked faces of foreign journalists stationed in Seoul were once again revealed without filters. At the news conference, four foreign journalists asked questions, but all but one of the Japanese newspaper journalists were unable to ask questions in Korean.
Reuters reporter Josh Smith simply said “Hi” in Korean and continued asking questions in English. Second, AFP reporter Catherine Burton asked questions in English without a word of Korean, and BBC reporter Jean McKinsey also showed off her fluent English (?).
You might be thinking, “What’s wrong with an Anglo-American journalist asking questions in English?” However, as stated at the beginning, there is a problem with basic knowledge of journalism, and secondly, inaccurate reports from foreign media can be published. Even if you have an interpreter, it can make a big difference whether or not you understand the company directly in the local language.
A few years ago, a Seoul correspondent sent from his home country had a Korean reporter from the Seoul bureau take over all the reporting, but only put his own name on the reporter’s signature, causing controversy among the “haired foreign reporters dark”. Such things often happen because foreign journalists are unable to report directly from Korea.
That’s why foreign journalists in Seoul often don’t know much about Korea, or even if they do, they often read summaries of newspaper articles translated by bureau staff, focusing only on the most important issues, and then report on Korea’s foreign policy or about politics in Yeouido. .
Not long ago, while I was drinking coffee in a cafe near the Potomac River, not far from Georgetown University in Washington DC, where I am currently studying, I heard Korean being spoken somewhere, so I opened my ears and looked around. . There were no Koreans in sight at all. As I listened carefully, I realized that the music playing in the bar was K-pop. When I searched for music on Naver, I found a song by “New Jeans”. When I went to Orlando, Florida in late March, I realized how popular K-pop was when it was played in a restaurant, and it was even more exciting to hear it again in the middle of Washington, DC.
As K-culture spreads, I thought it would be nice to see foreign journalists asking questions in the language of the country they are stationed in, at a press conference like the one held in the president’s office. If Anglo-American journalists put aside any sense of superiority they may have and reported on the traders at Namdaemun Market directly in Korean, read the newspapers, listened to the broadcasts, and understood them, I think more accurate reporting will come out.
In Korea it is quite unusual for foreign news articles to be regarded or treated as if they have more public trust, but in reality there are cases where the basics of journalism are neglected, so I would like to point out that we must be careful.
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