The present study examined the role of the Korean ethnic press in Australia with special reference to the ways in which their professional backgrounds shaped the construction of the news content of their newspapers. The study sample consisted of six Korean ethnic newspapers produced in Sydney. Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors relevant to the role of journalists were identified in interviews with the editors and publishers. The overall news content was analyzed through quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The principal finding of this study was that none of Shoemaker's (1987) theoretical statements about how economic factors shape news content could be applied to the Korean ethnic press in Australia. Despite their reliance on commercial sources for their economic survival, all six papers devoted more space to issue oriented news than to event-oriented news, and were not responsive to their readers and advertisers in Shoemaker's terms. Journalistic professionalism as discussed by Henningham (1989) also was treated as a less important factor by Korean ethnic newspaper staff. Rather the professional identity of the ethnic press editors and publishers was grounded in the culture of their local community instead of in the mainstream standards of It is concluded that Korean ethnic newspapers in Australia have more pragmatic criteria both for the selection of their news content, and for the professional standards of their newspaper staff.