The SNU Quill hosts talks with leaders of S. Korea’s journalism scene
As with any university publication, The SNU Quill perennially ponders the question of branding. What does it mean to exist as a university publication in an increasingly turbulent media landscape where both old and new forms of journalism struggle to maintain survival?
With such questions in mind, the editorial staff unanimously voted for “The Boiling Point” as this edition’s theme. After all, we live in a world that is heavily politicized–to exist is to be a political entity. To open up a dialogue about these anxieties, The SNU Quill hosted two workshops for its 80th Edition members.
The first workshop was hosted by Choe Sang-hun, the Seoul Bureau Chief at The New York Times and a renowned Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, who won the award for his investigative reporting on the No Gun Ri massacre. This workshop was hosted in Jongno district, central Seoul, at 7 P.M. on 3 May, 2023, and largely operated as an open conversation between the Bureau Chief and the The SNU Quill journalists. In this workshop, The SNU Quill reporters were given a chance to ask Choe pertinent questions with respect to current media trends and the politicized media landscape. He obliged the numerous questions with detailed answers addressing the bureaucratic regulations of media landscapes, occupational stress, the subjection to scrutiny journalists face, the erasure of press freedom and many other topical concerns. In his closing remarks, Choe recommended the book The Universal Journalist by David Randall for novice journalists; The SNU Quill extends this recommendation to our readers.
The second workshop was hosted by Cho Chung-un, Editor at the National Desk of The Korea Herald. This workshop was hosted on campus at 5 P.M. 17 Nov. 2023. During the event, Cho offered insights into the inner workings of The Korea Herald and the importance of staying motivated and incentivized as journalists. According to Cho, the most gratifying aspect of journalism is the ability to experience firsthand what others cannot. Cho divulged how the greatest motivating factor for her was her ability to intimately connect with the pressing issues facing Korean society through direct field reporting. Most importantly, Cho imparted a crucial piece of wisdom to The SNU Quill—the importance of focusing on giving our readers unique insights as SNU students.
