Communist Media vs. Democratic Media: North and South Korea, Outline Example

I. Project Rationale and Background

1. Every country has an individualistic way of portraying news and events based on cultural values and related belief systems.
2. In many parts of the world, such as in communist governments, the dictator uses the media mainly to spread his message; that his is powerful and the people should obey. Furthermore, media is used to show the strength of the country in order to enhance his power; these news reports frequently take a point of view that differs from what those on the other side of the conflict believe.
3. Meanwhile, Democratic media attempts to paint an accurate picture of current events; however, there are very few forms of media that do not depict partisan viewpoints, so their messages occasionally become hard to determine.
4. Nonetheless, communist media and democratic media have two very distinct goals; Communist media is nationalist and used to support both the leader and the feelings that people have about their country, while Democratic media is used primarily to spread messages about world news and interesting stories to people in a manner that generally allows them to form their own opinions about controversies.
5. One of the most dramatic examples of the difference between Communist media and Democratic media can be evaluated by studying media in North Korea and South Korea.

II. Aims

1. How does Kim Jong-un, the dictator of North Korea, utilize the media to spread messages to his people? Why types of media does he use? What does he say in these messages?
2. How does Park Geun-hye, the prime minister of South Korea, utilize the media to spread messages to his people? Why types of media does he use? What does he say in these messages?
3. Are the media messages in North and South Korea primarily sent by the government? If not, who is responsible for gathering and reporting these reports?
4. What makes the media issued by North Korea Communist? How do these media reports compared to those issued by people living in other Communist countries?
5. What makes the media issued by South Korea Democratic? How do these media reports compared to those issued by people living in other Democratic countries?

III. Research Strategies

1. Youtube and similar Internet sources will be used to gather a firsthand account of the types of video media used in North Korea and South Korea.
2. Radio reports will also be obtained from the two countries.
3. Newspaper and magazine records will also be obtained.
4. Third party accounts of citizens living in South Korea and North Korea will be obtained; only the accounts of North Korean’s who gave their statements after fleeing North Korea will count for the purpose of this comparative analysis.

IV. Potential Problems

1. Since North Korea is a Communist country, the people do not have the same freedom of reporting various happenings to the outside world as people do in Democratic countries; therefore, it may be difficult to maintain the comparison between North Korea and South Korea using all types of media sources (radio, video, newspapers, interviews, etc).
2. The opinions of people who live in North Korea and continue to live their under Communist rule will differ greatly from those who have fled to another country and experienced Democracy; it will be difficult to determine which opinions we should use for comparison and the opinions of those who fled North Korea are most likely to be readily available.

V. Sources/Annotated Bibliography

A. The Internet will be primarily used to gather data due to the nature of this project; newspapers, radio reports, video news, and interviews will be obtained.

• The Official North Korean News Website
• This website is monitored by the North Korean government as news access for its people; this is one of the main sources that will be used for this analysis because it is difficult to obtain print sources from this country.
• Website: http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm

B. South Korean News Website – Korea Times

• Unlike North Korea, South Korea has many news sites.
• Website: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/index.asp

C. North Korea Radio Stations

• This website allows us to tune into the North Korean radio stations through the Internet.
• Website: http://tunein.com/radio/North-Korea-r100366/

D. South Korea Radio Stations

• This website allows us to tune into South Korea radio stations through the Internet.
• Website: http://tunein.com/radio/South-Korea-r100367/

Works Cited

Korean News. N.D. 5 October 2013. Web.

The Korea Times. N.D. 5 October 2013. Web.

North Korea Radio. N.D. 5 October 2013. Web.

South Korea Radio. N.D. 5 October 2013. Web.