Kyunghyang Shinmun

Kyunghyang Shinmun
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner Kyunghyang Co.
Editor Park No-seung
Founded 1946-10-06
Political alignment Leftist, "moderate progressive"[1]
Headquarters Jung-gu, Seoul
Circulation 350,000[1]
Official website khan.co.kr
Korean name
Hangul 경향신문
Hanja 京鄕新聞
Revised Romanization Gyeonghyang Sinmun
McCune–Reischauer Kyŏnghyang Sinmun

The Kyunghyang Shinmun or Kyonghyang Sinmun is a major daily newspaper published in South Korea. It is based in Seoul. The name literally means Urbi et Orbi Daily News.[1]

Contents

History

Kyunghyang Shinmun was founded in 1946 by the Catholic Church,[1] which explains its name. Before the Korean War, it was edited by Fr. Peter Ryang, a refugee from the North, and its circulation was 100,000.[2] Kyunghyang Shinmun was temporarily closed down in May 1959 by the Rhee administration on grounds of having printed "false editorials",[3] but revived after the pro-democracy revolution of April 19, 1960.[1] The newspaper is no longer associated with the Catholic Church.[1]

It was also formerly owned by the Hanwha chaebol.[4] Hanwha relinquished their control of the newspaper after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, at the same time as their competitor Hyundai gave up its own daily, the Munhwa Ilbo.[4]

Current operations

In 1998, Kyunghyang Shinmun became an independent newspaper with employee ownership.[1] The CEO is elected by the employees; the editor-in-chief, though appointed by the CEO, must be approved by a majority of the journalist-employees.[1]

The newspaper employs 600 people, including 240 journalists and maintains foreign bureaus in Washington, D.C., Tokyo and Beijing. It reports 1.3 million daily visitors to its website and 6.2 million daily page-views. The company also publishes a daily sports newspaper (Sports Khan), a weekly news magazine (The Jugan Kyunghyang) and a monthly lifestyle magazine for women (The Lady Kyunghyang).[1]

Like the newer daily The Hankyoreh, Kyunghyang Shinmun leans toward anti-government reporting,[5] describing itself as "moderate progressive".[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Who is the Kyunghyang Shinmun (Kyunghyang Daily News)" Kyunghyang Shinmun website (English). Retrieved 2011-10-06.
  2. ^ "Korean Priest Who Fled Iron Curtain Preaches Here", The Pittsburgh Press, 1950-05-18, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oIMbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TU0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3388,1078109, retrieved 2010-06-25 
  3. ^ "Opposition Paper Closed in Korea; News Falsification Charged—Shutdown Protested by U. S. Embassy", The New York Times, 1959-05-02, http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00C1EFD3A58137B93C0A9178ED85F4D8585F9, retrieved 2010-06-25  (fee required for full article).
  4. ^ a b Gunaratne, Shelton A. (2000), Handbook of the media in Asia, Sage Publications, p. 620, ISBN 9780761994275 
  5. ^ Do, Je-hae (2009-04-13), "Certain Dailies Given Priority in State Ads", The Korea Times, http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/04/116_43114.html, retrieved 2010-06-25 

External links