The Chosun Ilbo

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The Chosun Ilbo
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner Chosun Ilbo Co.
Editor Kim Chang-gi
Founded 1920
Political allegiance Center right
Headquarters Jung-gu, Seoul
Website: www.chosun.com
Korean name
Hangul 조선일보
Hanja 朝鮮日報
Revised Romanization Joseon Ilbo
McCune-Reischauer Chosŏn Ilbo

The Chosun Ilbo (translated as Korean Daily News) is one of the major newspapers in South Korea. With a daily circulation of over 2,200,000, it is the largest newspaper in the country.[1] The Chosun Ilbo has undertaken annual inspections since Audit Bureau of Circulations was established in 1993.

Besides the daily newspaper, the company also publishes the weekly Jugan Chosun, the monthly Wolgan San (lit. Monthly Mountain), and other newspapers and magazines. Subsidiaries include Digital Chosun, Wolgan Chosun, and Edu-Chosun. Chosun Ilbo and its subsidiary company, Digital Chosun operates the Chosun.com news website.

Chosun.com is ranked as the No.1 Korean news website by the Internet survey company Rankey.com. Foreign language versions of the Chosun Ilbo are published on the Internet in English, Chinese, and Japanese.

The media organization gets its name from Korea's last dynasty in Korean history. (see Names of Korea).

Contents

[edit] History

The Chosun Ilbo Establishment Union was created in September 1919, and the Chosun Ilbo company was founded on March 5, 1920. The newspaper was critical of, and sometimes directly opposed, the actions of the pro-Japanese government during Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945) (see South Korean media).

On August 27, 1920, the Chosun Ilbo was suspended after it published an editorial heavily criticizing the use of excessive force by the Japanese police against Korean citizens. This was the first in a string of suspensions. On September 5 of the same year, three days after the first suspension was lifted, the newspaper published an editorial entitled "Did the Japanese central governing body shut down our newspaper?" For this the Chosun Ilbo was given an indefinite suspension (its second suspension).

In June 1923, Chosun Ilbo celebrated its one-thousandth issue. It had achieved many milestones including being the first newspaper in Korea to publish both morning and evening editions, send international correspondents to Russia, and publish cartoons. However, in that same month, it was given its third, indefinite suspension by the Japanese government for printing an editorial opposing Japanese rule of Korea.

In 1927, the Chosun Ilbo's editor and publisher were arrested. The editor was also the chief staff writer. The offense in this case was an editorial citing the mistreatment of prisoners by the colonial government. In May of that same year, in response to an editorial criticizing sending troops into Shandong[2], the Chosun Ilbo was suspended for a fourth time for 133 days. The publisher and chief staff writer, An Jae-hong, were once again imprisoned.

After these events, the Chosun Ilbo remained at the forefront of events, trying to improve general public life and sponsoring collaboration. This was a turbulent period; within the space of three years, the president was replaced three times. On December 21, 1935, in collaboration with compulsory Japanese education and plans to assimilate the Korean people and language, the Chosun Ilbo published 100,000 Korean-language textbooks nationwide.

Over the years, the Chosun Ilbo also started to publish many side publications. One of these was a monthly publication of current events called Youth Chosun, the first of its kind in Korea. Others included its sister publication, Jogwang.

In the summer of 1940, after issue number 6923, the paper was declared officially discontinued by the Japanese ruling government. In the twenty years since its founding, the paper had been suspended by the Japanese government four times, and its issues confiscated over five hundred times before 1932. Because of bankruptcy, ownership changed hands, and the news organization fell under tighter control of the Japanese to become one of the most influential organizations to collaborate with the colonial goovernment.

When Korea gained independence in 1945, the Chosun Ilbo came back into publication after a five year, three month hiatus.

[edit] Criticism

Chosun Ilbo is often criticized for its conservative bias, including support for the conservative Grand National Party and hostility towards the liberal presidencies of Kim Dae Jung (1998-2003) and Roh Moo Hyun (2003-2008). Such criticism of the major news dailies in Korea has not been limited to the Chosun Ilbo. Similar arguments have been made against the Joongang Ilbo, Donga Ilbo, and others. And the Hankyoreh, another leading national newspaper, has been heavily criticized for liberal bias.

The Chosun Ilbo, however, has been particularly attacked by socio-political groups as being too pro-conservative. Anti-Chosun Ilbo movements have been staged by media reformists and NGOs for its biased reporting and commercialism. One such grassroots effort took place in 2005 when Nosamo, an activist group supporting then-President Roh Moo-Hyun whose group name literally translated means "gathering of people who love Roh Moo-hyun", launched a campaign to convince readers to stop reading the Chosun Ilbo and subscribe the left-leaning Hankyoreh and Kyunghyang Shinmun.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Asia-Pacific Perceptions Project.
  2. ^ Shandong is a province in China across the Yellow Sea from Korea (where the Yellow Sea is known as the West Sea). Japan's annexation of Korea was part of a wider colonial effort which included the successful colonization of Manchuria and efforts in other parts of China.

[edit] External links