The End of 20th
Century
Journalism:
“Every Citizen is a Reporter”

2:22 p.m. on the 22nd of
February, 2000

New Concept:
“Every Citizen is a Reporter”

Trajectory of human communications
WOM at pre-industrial town - Newspaper - Radio & Television - Internet - Mobile phones
The Scale of
Diffusion
Interactivity
BlogsBlogs
Citizen journalismCitizen journalism
Bulletin boardsBulletin boards

Digital divide alongside age in Korea
Print & TV
News
Internet
News
News makers &News makers &
News sourcesNews sources
News makers &News makers &
News sourcesNews sources

OhmyNews was founded on the premise
of “Citizen Reporters”
“Every citizen's a reporter. Journalists aren't
some exotic species, they're everyone who
seeks to take new developments, put them into
writing, and share them with others.”
– Oh Yeon Ho, founder and CEO of OhmyNews

OhmyNews was founded on the premise
of “Citizen Reporters”
“OhmyNews does not regard straight news
articles as the standard. Articles including
both facts and opinions are acceptable when
they are good.”
– Oh Yeon Ho, Speaking with Japan Media Review

Number of Citizen Reporters explodes from
727 to 37,000+
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
Feb.2000 Sep. 2000 Mar. 2001 Nov. 2001 Oct. 2002 Mar. 2003 Nov. 2003 Apr.2004
PresidentialPresidential
ElectionElection
20022002
GeneralGeneral
ElectionElection
20042004
GeneralGeneral
ElectionElection
20002000

Citizen Reporters – Who Are They?
By Gender
Male, 76.6%
Female, 23.4%
*As of Dec. 09 2003

Citizen Reporters – Who Are They?
By Occupation
Others, 42.4%
Freelancers, 5.1%
Teachers, 4.3%
College Students,
19.7%
White Collar,
15.5%
Small businesses,
5.9%
Journalists, 7.1%
*As of Dec. 09 2003

By Age
10~19, 8.5%
20~29, 38.4%
30~39, 34.5%
40~49, 14.4%
50~59, 3.2%
60~, 1.0%
Citizen Reporters – Who Are They?
*As of Dec. 09 2003

Why they write for OhmyNews
 Eyeballs; thousands of readers (current record is 100,000
views) guaranteed for their story
 Instant feedback from readers; up to 3,500 readers’ comments
recorded depending on nature of the story
 Sense of empowerment by participating in changing society
 Monetary rewards; 20,000 won for top story, 10,000 won for
sub-top and 2,000 won for ingul story
*Readers can tip writers using a mobile phone payment system
 “News Guerillas of the Month”, “News Guerillas’ Day”

What they write for OhmyNews
Topics they have easy access to:
 Essay-style musings on daily life
 Columns on various political and social issues
 Film and book reviews
 Media criticism mostly on reports by conservative
established media
 On any given day, they submit 150 to 200 stories,
over 70% of the news content for OhmyNews

It’s not bulletproof but a system is in
place to guarantee credibility
 Background-check for every single netizen before they can sign up as
an OhmyNews citizen reporter
 No news can appear on the main page until they pass through fact-
check and screening process by OhmyNews copyeditors – we reject as
many as 30% of 150-200 stories submitted daily for various reasons
 Sensitive stories that contain claims that potentially damage news
makers’ reputation get more thorough fact-check and sometimes entail
even on-site visits
 Citizen reporters tend to write softer news like movie review, travel
essays minimizing any chance of legal conflict in the first place

Tale of Two Internet News Media
Content
Reader
participation
Use of
technology
Updates
Attitude
News
consumption
Use Web as…
Quality news, analysis, editorials
and op-eds
Limited feedback to the editor via
“Readers’ Opinion”
Web as a carrier of print news to
cyber space
New York Times Digital
10~15 times per day
Modernistic elite media
I produce.
You consume and leave.
a pipe for news delivery
Focused news on politics and social
issues by staff reporters
Essay style reports by citizen reporters
Write as a citizen reporter, post your
comments or give money to reporters
HTML, Web-radio, Web-TV, Mobile news
and Weekly print edition
OhmyNews
As many as necessary; 24 times per day
in case of live text casting
Post-modernistic “We” media
We produce.
We consume and stay.
a playground for readers

“Attention Netizens!”
Citizen Reporters vs. Bloggers

OhmyNews, One-stop Marketplace of
Eyeballs
“Is there something else that flows through
cyberspace, something that is scarce and desirable?
There is. No one would put anything on the Internet
without the hope of obtaining some. It's called
attention. And the economy of attention - not
information - is the natural economy of cyberspace.”
-Excerpt from Attention Shoppers! By Michael H.
Goldhaber

OhmyNews, One-stop Marketplace of
Eyeballs & Intermediary for tips
News& OpinionNews& Opinion
Eyeballs &Eyeballs &
MoneyMoney
Citizen Reporters News AudienceBloggers

Why Citizen Reporter Instead of Blogging?
 A lot more eyeballs than blogging: plenty of views and
readers’ comments guaranteed
 Professional peer review by OhmyNews editors
 Instant Fame: “Honey, I am on OhmyNews!”
 Sense of solidarity and empowerment
 Scarcity of “real estate” makes appearance on
OhmyNews all the more valuable
 Market mechanism: a thrill of competition to grab prized
spots on the main page
 Monetary rewards: fee from OhmyNews and tip from
readers

OhmyNews Editorial Process
Citizen
Reporters
(37,000+)
Staff
Reporters
(48)
Essays & Columns
Film & Book Reviews
Media Criticism
Screening by
News Guerilla
Desk
Hard News
Analysis
Columns & Editorials
Screening by
Editorial
Desk
PublicationPublication

Story contributions by citizen reporters far
outstrip those by staff reporters
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu
3/1 3/2 3/3 3/4 3/5 3/6 3/7 3/8 3/9 3/10 3/11 3/12 3/13 3/14 3/15 3/16 3/17 3/18 3/19 3/20 3/21 3/22 3/23 3/24 3/25 3/26 3/27 3/28 3/29 3/30 3/31
News by staff reporters News by Agency News by business wire OhmyNews International News by citizen reporters Total Ratio: Citizen reporters/Staff reporters

Stories flow in and they sparkle even more on
weekends
0%
100%
200%
300%
400%
500%
600%
700%
800%
900%
Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu
3/1 3/2 3/3 3/4 3/5 3/6 3/7 3/8 3/9 3/10 3/11 3/12 3/13 3/14 3/15 3/16 3/17 3/18 3/19 3/20 3/21 3/22 3/23 3/24 3/25 3/26 3/27 3/28 3/29 3/30 3/31
Ratio: No. of articles by Citizen reporters/Staff reporters

Paradox of Conflicting Readers’ Demands
The Beauty of
Professionally-presented
Editorial Control
A Sense of
Editorial Control with
Readers’ Participation
Tricky
Balancing
Act

Always-on nature ofAlways-on nature of
broadband accessbroadband access
encourages readersencourages readers
to stayto stay for hoursfor hours,,
posting over 85,000posting over 85,000
comments andcomments and
chatting with eachchatting with each
other during live web-other during live web-
casting.casting.
OhmyTV’s Coverage on the General Election
in April

OhmyNews’ Coverage on the Anti-
impeachment Protest in March

OhmyNews’ Coverage on the Anti-
impeachment Protest in March

Marketplace for Tip hunters (if you are):
“Thank you for the excellent writing, please take my money”
Mobile phone
Tipping
Credit card
Tipping

Versioning of premium insider information
tantalizes our readers to switch to paid subscription
Number of
paying
customers
as of Feb. 17

Ad Sales, 70%
Voluntary subscription
fee and others, 10%
News Content Sales,
20%
Income Sources

Highly efficient news operations
 Word of mouth self-promotion by citizen reporters:
as potential bloggers join OhmyNews as citizen
reporters they bring with them their own audience
thus contributing to increase in web-traffic
 Virtual newsroom: any place with Internet access
transforms into a virtual office for OhmyNews staff
where they report and edit the news remotely and
collaboratively

Why in Korea?

Digital ‘Soft’ Index
Source: MIC as of June 2004
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s
Korean Internet Usage Rate

Digital ‘Soft’ Index
Total Number of Internet Users (Unit: million)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Source: MIC as of June 2004
32,730,000

*Source: Asia Network Research by Institute for Hyper Network Society
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Broadband
E-biz
Online
Game
Mobile
Internet
Digital Music
VOD
Netizen
E-Govt.
Korea
Japan
USA
Europe
China
Digital “Soft” Index

Why Korea gravitated to the citizen reporter model
 Negative public sentiment against near monopolistic dominance by three
conservative, autocratic papers
 Pent up demand for fair and independent news media
 Over 75% broadband penetration; ideal for multimedia, always-on and
interactive news service
 3.6 degrees of separation; small land size and closely networked society
 Uni-polar society; the entire country can be engulfed by couple of issues in a
matter of days
 Politically active 20-somethings and “386 generation” (*Korean equivalent of
“68 generation” in Europe)
 High literacy rate (98%) and Hangul’s adaptability to computer systems

The Next Step

Citizen Anchors

Oh my! News by Million Phonecams?

and it goes global with….
OhmyNews tests its Citizen ReporterOhmyNews tests its Citizen Reporter
Model among Global AudienceModel among Global Audience

OhmyNews International
Citizen Reporter Seminars in Brussels & Seoul

Readers of OhmyNews International are
globally distributed

The Vision: a News media with thousands
of citizen correspondents world-wide

50-50 Society:
Are we there yet?

*Supplements

- Overcome geographical barriers
- Find like-minded people
- Connect with each other
- Become core supporters
Conservative
Moderate
Liberal
The Web enables Netizens to….

Digital divide alongside age in Korea
Print & TV
News
Internet
News
News makers &News makers &
News sourcesNews sources
News makers &News makers &
News sourcesNews sources

Hypersurface: cyber space and real space
fuse together
Cyber space
HYPERSURFACEHYPERSURFACE
Real space

South Korea: a densely populated economy with
over 80% urbanization coupled with 75%
broadband penetration, i.e. a Hypersurface,

Information Saliency in Hypersurface
Cyber space Real space
Demographics Time
Psychographics Location

HYPERSURFACE
Snowballing effect of online and offline
interactions among supporters
Online
Online
interaction
interaction
OfflineOffline
MeetingMeeting
Enhanced
Enhanced
Online
Online
interaction
interaction
M
ore
desire
for
M
ore
desire
for
offline
reunions
offline
reunions
EmpoweredEmpowered
SupportersSupporters
Spreadtheword
Spreadtheword
totheskeptics
totheskeptics

Cyber warfare: the Ruling Uri Party vs. GNP
*Source: Chosun Ilbo Nov. 29 2004
WHO HOW WHERE
Personal
Homepage
Internet
News
Portals
(DAUM,
Naver)
The
Opposition’s
Homepage
Cyber Warfare
Generate
Supporting
Arguments
Copy
&
Paste
Leave Your
Comments
Swarm
Attacks
Supporting
Netizens
Uri: Nosamo
GNP: Parksamo
Cyber
Pundits
Uri: Ryu Shi-min
GNP: Jeon Yeo-ok

E-politics: Korea-specific factors
 ‘386 generation’, Korea’s new political leaders had been heavily influenced during
the 80’s by communication and propaganda tactics they borrowed from socialists.
They tested these viral communications techniques with the new media, i.e. Internet
 The young generation shared the strong will to reform Korean society and were
ready to sacrifice themselves for this noble cause
 The elderly and conservative feared a tech-savvy, younger generation and
anticipated an outbreak of their capability embodied in their political icon: Roh Moo
Hyun
 Thanks to the explosion of college education in the 80s, Netizens, the younger
generation was generally well-educated
 The conservatives’ favored print and TV media didn’t allow them to network with
each other as fast and efficiently as the Internet did for progressive young voters --
a critical factor in galvanizing the last-minute voter turn-out on the election day
 Young Netizens’ geographical proximity helped them interact with each other across
on-line and off-line borders thus forming the core supporters

They are million miles apart across the age-line…
hence the civil war inside your homes
Prefer bottom up,
democratic & distributed
communication
Feel comfortable with top
down and authoritative voice
Communication
mode
Mostly enjoyed college
education
Barely finished high school
education
Education
Uri Party and Roh Moo
Hyun
GNP and Park Geun HyeParty
allegiance
20~4040~60Age
distribution
Preferred
medium
Internet, Mobile phones,
TV, Radio
Newspapers, Magazines, TV,
Radio
Political
spectrum
Liberal &
Reform-minded
Conservative & dominated by
Cold War agenda
The NetizensThe Old Guard

4 Years of OhmyNews
 2000
February 22, 2000 OhmyNews site opens.
November 9, 2000 Ranked 10th in a survey of “Korea’s Most Influential Media” by Sisa Journal
and Media Research.
December 11, 2000 Named “Hit Website” for 2000 by Hanguk Ilbo.
 2001
October 6, 2001 OhmyNews president Oh Yeon Ho included in Kyeonghyang Sinmun’s “55
Faces that Represent Korea”
October 20, 2001 Ranked 8th in a survey of “Korea’s Most Influential Media,” performed
by Sisa Journal and Media Research.
 2002
April 30, 2002 OhmyNews weekly print edition begins.
October 21, 2002 Ranked 8th in a survey of “Korea’s Most Influential Media” performed by Sisa
Journal and Media Research.
December 18, 2002 Logs 6.23 million visitors, 19.10 million page views.
 2003
February 22, 2003 Exclusive interview with President-elect Roh Moo Hyun on the third
anniversary of OhmyNews.
October 21, 2003 Ranked 6th in a survey of “Korea’s Most Influential Media” by a Sisa
Journal panel of experts
 2004
February 22, 2004 OhmyNews International beta version goes online.

OhmyNews in the News
 “More and more people were getting their information and political analysis from spunky news
services on the Internet… Most influential by far has been a feisty three-year-old start up with the
unusual name of OhmyNews. Around election time the free online news service was registering
20 million page views per day.” - The New York Times
 “It's entertaining, it's heartfelt and it's caring. It's like blogs. It has a personal side and an
emotional side. It has human texture. It's not bland and objective like traditional news. There's a
definite bias. It's not professional, but you get the facts…. I trust it." - Don Park, blogger
 "OhmyNews is as influential as any newspaper," a South Korean diplomat told the paper. "No
policy maker can afford to ignore it. South Korea is changing in ways that we cannot believe
ourselves.“ – WIRED.com
 “The marriage of a fledgling democracy and broadband technology has spawned a precocious
new media child in South Korea that would have been unimaginable 15 years ago.” – Christian
Science Monitor
 “OhmyNews is transforming the 20th century's journalism-as-lecture model, where organizations
tell the audience what the news is and the audience either buys it or doesn't, into something vastly
more bottom-up, interactive and democratic.” - San Jose Mercury News

3rd
Generation Internet News Media
 Strengthen multimedia component such as OhmyTV and mobile
news service
 Globalize OhmyNews, a native Korean product  Launch of
OhmyNews International, its English language edition
 Replicate and export OhmyNews model worldwide
 Achieve qualitative development of citizen participatory
journalism  OhmyNews by thousands of phonecam reporters
 Go beyond criticism of the existing social establishment to
propose alternatives for a new society  OhmyForum

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