This study analyses press treatment of the Korean chaebols from
1989 to 1993. A review of the scholarly literature found that the
chaebols were very powerful, but were widely disliked and distrusted by
members of the Korean public. As well as controlling many Korean
businesses, the chaebols influence the media industries through direct
and indirect control. With such influence, and their effort to improve
their image after the Seoul Olympics, the researcher expected rather
favourable images to be reported in the selected press. A total of seven
foreign and domestic newspapers and magazines were selected for the
study, which represented various ownership and readership
characteristics. Hypotheses were established on the basis of the evidence
in Chapters 1 and 2 of the power of the chaebols, and of their recent
concern to improve their public images. Quantitative content analysis
was then used to investigate significant differences in each selected
source in relation to the resource dependencies of the selected
newspapers and magazines. Each source was compared and analysed to
investigate its distinctiveness and their dependencies due to limited
resources. Also, some qualitative content analysis was incorporated to
further investigate the ways the Korean chaebols were reported.
The research found that rather unfavourable images of the
chaebols were often reported in the press, both Korean and overseas.
They were favourably described as a contributor in developing in the
Korean economy, but were unfavourably described as socially
destructive. Our results often contradicted our hypotheses. Also, some
significant difference and similarities of reports about chaebols were
found especially between the Korean and non-Korean press. The more
complex situation revealed by our results was addressed using
Turow's(1984) Resource Dependency Theory. Overall, the study
supported the more complex picture put forward by the Resource Dependency Theory rather than the somewhat simplistic view that sees
ownership as the main influence on media outlets.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219090 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Kim, Inho, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Communication, Media & Tourism |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Inho Kim |
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