A talk on the general strike of public broadcasting companies took place on October 12 in the book café Jidam in the Chamsari Gil. A representative of Jidam Kim Jun Soo (’90, Sociology), organized the event, and invited MBC announcer Hur Ill Hoo (’00, Journalism and Boradcasting) and KBS reporter Jung Chang Hwa (’93, Korean Language and Literature) as guest speakers.

 

The speakers shared their thoughts on the status quo of the strike and the corruption of the current press system. They stated that while this strike is an extension of the strikes in the past, it has a slightly different focus from the previous ones. Hur emphasized that their current emphasis is on the reconstruction of the press corrupted by politics, whereas the past strikes concentrated on protecting the media from politics. He then illustrated how the flawed system tried to suppress the resistance movement, for instance, by transferring some labor union members to inadequate positions, or by aggravating conflict between the permanent and temporary workers.

 

The guests also gave advices for the Korea University (KU) students willing to pursue the career of journalism. Jung asked for students to acquire an attitude which they can always reflect on themselves, thinking that they can be wrong. “This kind of attitude,” he mentioned, “is essential to write an objective article.” Hur began by revealing that the people responsible for the current system are mostly from KU. Encouraging students to show responsibility, “You need to be able to step into the shoes of those who have and know less, and strive to represent the people as a whole,” he said.