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| OhmyNews to Foster Journalism in Japan |
| Softbank gives $11 million vote of confidence to Korean model of participatory journalism |
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Annie Koh (anniekoh)  |
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Published 2006-03-02 18:40 (KST) |
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With technology leaders promoting the concept of Web 2.0 -- a vision of the Internet that replaces the top-down, one-expert-to-many-readers model of information distribution with participatory and collective knowledge -- OhmyNews seems prescient in its core belief that "Every citizen is a reporter." The proof appears in the runaway growth of blogs, the influence of grassroots political Web sites, and the collectively edited Wikipedia's emergence as one of the most-utilized resources on the Internet.
 |  | |  OhmyNews International Seoul office | | | ©2006 Nam S.Y. | OhmyNews, which has been in operation for six years, received further confirmation of the value of participatory journalism last month in the form of a $11 million investment from Softbank, a Tokyo-based technology and Internet investment firm, to expand its international presence, most notably by launching a Japanese edition later this year. The funds will also be used to develop OhmyNews' video journalism arm. The investment matches the global reach and technological expertise of Softbank with OhmyNews' track record, know-how and credibility in an ambitious undertaking to extend the boundaries of citizen journalism.
But will participatory journalism flourish? Under much scrutiny, other projects, including the recently abandoned San Francisco-centric Bayosphere and several even more localized citizen journalism sites, have struggled to find their audience.
In a Japan Media Review article on an earlier participatory news site, one market research consultant pointed to cultural traits that might hinder such projects: "Koreans love to express their opinions... It's a national character trait -- and the polar opposite of the Japanese personality."
Japan's larger population also might pose problems as society is more fragmented, with fewer uniting issues that can capture national attention. Cultural differences, yes, but, OhmyNews CEO Oh Yeon Ho disagrees with the prevailing characterization that Japanese people participate less. He is quick to say that in Japan there are many citizens who are already involved with the increasingly vibrant non-governmental sector as key to creating a citizen journalism site.
Among those prepared citizens? Many of the 1.3 million Japanese who rushed to Kobe to volunteer to help in the aftermath of the 1995 earthquake, as well as six Kyoto University students, have already crafted a proposal for an OhmyNews Japan.
Oh anticipates that Japan's deeper pool of freelance journalists combined with the growing NGO sector will supply the Japanese edition with writers. Mainstream media will not be neglected either. Beginning in mid-March he starts visiting regional newspapers and universities on a lecture circuit to reach out to working journalists and students. The hope is to reach 40,000 writers - the same level as the Korean version.
But the idea isn't just a freestanding Japanese edition, but one that will work in tandem with the Korean site to foster cultural exchange. Just as important Korean news articles are translated into English and featured on the current International site, OhmyNews Japan and Korea will share content.
While the 2002 Korea-Japan FIFA World Cup would have been a prime opportunity for content swapping, the complex relationship between Korea and Japan -- from continued political tensions to the two-way flow of pop culture -- fuels the need for such a space of bi-national discussion. The editor-in-chief of OhmyNews Japan, Lee Byung Sun, is a former editor of the Korean newspaper Munhwa Ilbo and fluent in Japanese and will be able to contribute to both countries' sites in either language.
Global Framework
You need drive only six hours to traverse South Korea from north to south, barring holiday traffic. Korea's tight knit culture and society results in readers and writers alike who are more invested, much how single-issue sites in larger countries also prompt a passionate involvement.
OhmyNews has been remarkably influential in Korean politics and society, setting agendas and also swinging the spotlight on everyday matters that affect everyday people. But how to transfer this close-knit community to an international edition? With writers in Venice and Vietnam, how to create a cohesive site?
Hong Eun Taek, the editor-in-chief of OhmyNews International, acknowledges that the far-flung geographic dispersal of the international writers does make it harder to establish shared interests. But it's not his intention to dictate any particular focus. As more writers and editors are recruited the site will evolve according to their participation, he says. This bottom-up style aligns with the Web 2.0 evangelizers' vision of the Internet -- user behavior is not predetermined and every site is in a constant state of "beta testing."
With the cash infusion provided by Softbank, OhmyNews International will be able to recruit contributing correspondents from 12 regions in the world, citizen journalists whose daytime careers range from filmmaking to small business entrepreneurs. Hong says one of OhmyNews International's goals is "to enhance global awareness of cultural diversity and universality."
He points to a special series on "lunch culture" that, through articles from reporters across the globe, highlighted variety while simultaneously revealing the standardizing impact of globalization on our personal choices.
"We want to be a barometer of global trends," Hong said.
It is expected that partnerships with other citizen participatory sites to translate articles from their languages into English and the new Japanese edition will also result in exponential growth. In contrast to mainstream media, OhmyNews can provide in-depth follow-up to stories often pounced upon one day and then discarded the next by the traditional media, Hong said.
Rather than trying to cover all stories in all regions, Hong anticipates the combination of in-depth coverage of diverse topics will become the site's calling card. New technology tools, including podcasting and video, will add to the range of voices featured.
As citizen journalism matures, accountability and credibility are essential. The common refrain from naysayers of citizen journalism is that it casts a shadow on the work of "professionals." Softbank's $11 million vote of confidence in OhmyNews provides a stepping stone for the company to spread its time-tested version of participatory journalism to a more global audience.
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| Annie Koh was born in Chicago and is a Yale University graduate. She moved to San Francisco to work at the Asian Pacific Fund, a non-profit organization, and in 2002 co-founded an Asian American news and culture publication called Hyphen Magazine. She is currently in Seoul attending a graduate Korean program at Seoul National University. |
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©2006 OhmyNews
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