Media coverage of the conflicts over the 4th Industrial Revolution in the Republic of Korea from 2016 to 2020: a text-mining approach

Abstract

The media has depicted an abrupt socio-technological change in the Republic of Korea with the 4th Industrial Revolution. Because technologies cannot realize their potential without social acceptance, studying conflicts incurred by such a change is imperative. However, little literature has focused on conflicts caused by technologies. Therefore, the current study investigated media coverage regarding conflicts related to the 4th Industrial Revolution from 2016 to 2020 in the Republic of Korea, applying text-mining techniques. We found that the overall amount and coverage pattern conforms to the issue attention cycle. Also, the three major topics (“SMEs & Startups,” “Mobility Conflict,” and “Human & Technology”) indicate quarrels between conflicting social entities. Moreover, the temporal change in media coverage implies the political use of the term rather than technological. However, we also found the media’s deliberative discussion on the socio-technological impact. This study is significant because we expanded the discussion on media coverage of technologies to the realm of social conflicts. Furthermore, we explored the news articles of the recent five years with a text-mining approach that enhanced the objectivity of the research.