Changing News Media Landscape in South Korea

Abstract

A recent disclosure of a presidential scandal and the following development of subsequent events have been a major news topic in South Korea. We conducted a data-driven study to examine public reactions to the scandal and their effect on the Korean media landscape. Our analysis is based on 59,224 news articles published by five popular newsrooms that received a total of 47,906,770 Likes on Facebook. The data reveal notable changes in media ranks throughout the scandal, where a relatively young TV news network outgrew its audience over other half-a-century old established newspapers in less than a month. Topical similarity of news headlines also remained high over an extended period of time, despite the varying political stance of each newsroom. The topical similarity further shows a gradual divergence, indicating re-positioning of media stance takes place over time. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future directions are discussed based on data analysis of this extraordinary event.