The Dong-a Ilbo
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The ''Dong-A Ilbo'' (, literally ''East Asia Daily'') is a
newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and include some of the o ...
in Korea since 1920 with a daily circulation of more than 1.2 million and opinion leaders as its main readers. ''The Dong-A Ilbo'' is the parent company of Dong-A Media Group (DAMG), which is composed of 11 affiliates including Sports Dong-A, Dong-A Science, DUNet, and dongA.com, as well as Channel A, general service cable broadcasting company launched on 1 December 2011. It covers a variety of areas including news, drama, entertainment, sports, education, and movies. ''The Dong-A Ilbo'' has partnered with international news companies such as ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' of the United States of America, ''
The Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition and ...
'' of Japan and ''
The People's Daily The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language e ...
'' of China. It has correspondents stationed in five major cities worldwide including Washington D.C., New York, San Francisco, Beijing, Tokyo, Cairo and Paris. It also publishes global editions in 90 cities worldwide including New York,
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
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and
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.


History

''Dong-A Ilbo'' was established in 1920 with the motto of "For the people, democracy and culture." These ideas have transformed into what the company named "Dong-A DNA" which calls for critical view of authority, journalistic integrity in reporting the truth, humanism by sharing the pain of the neglected and being revolutionary by not fearing change. * 1920-04-01: Published the first issue along with the civilization policy of
Governor-General of Korea Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
* 1920-09-25: The first suspension for indefinite period of time: for printing the article "Discussing the Problems with Rituals" which were critical of three items sacred to Japan * 1926-03-06: The second suspension for printing a message celebrating the March 1 protest * 1930-04-16: The third suspension for printing "''The Dong-A Ilbo'' Plays an Important Role in Chosun's Current Situation" which was a letter sent by a press in US in support of Korea * 1931-03-21: Held the 1st Dong-A Marathon Games, Korea's first marathon race * 1936-08-29: The fourth suspension: for erasing the Japanese flag from Korean born Olympic gold medalist * 1940-08-10: Forced closure by the Japanese government * 1945-12-01: Re-opening of ''Dong-A Ilbo'' * 1961-03-15: Articles were printed criticizing the legitimacy of the May 15 election (lead to the
April revolution The April Revolution ( ko, 4.19 혁명), also called the April 19 Revolution or April 19 Movement, were mass protests in South Korea against President Syngman Rhee and the First Republic from April 11 to 26, 1960 which led to Rhee's resigna ...
) * 1963-03-17: Published newspaper without editorials in protest to the continued military rule * 1963-04-25: Opened Dong-A Broadcasting Station. The first media company to own print and broadcast media * 1964-07-15: Establishment of Children's ''Dong-A'' * 1967-01-28: Establishment of ''Dong-A Annual'' * 1971-08-17: Staff reporters receive Korea Reporter's Award * 1974-10-24: Announced the Free Press Declaration * 1974-11-20: Awarded for efforts made in freedom of speech by US Freedom House * 1974-12-20: Published blank advertisements in protest of the tyrannical military administration's advertisement oppressions * 1975-04-18: ''Dong-A Ilbo'' President Sang-man Kim receives Press Freedom Golden Pen award * 1980-11-30: Dong-A Broadcasting Station closed due to the mandatory merger by the military government forces * 1984-04-01: Establishment of ''Dong-A Music'' (magazine) * 1986-01-01: Establishment of ''Dong-A Science'' * 1987-01-16: Exclusively reported the torture and death of Park Jong-chul, which acted as a catalyst for the June democracy uprising * 1993-04-01: Changed from an evening newspaper to a morning newspaper * 1994-03-21: Established Ilmin (People's) Culture Foundation * 1996-10-01: Began internet news service: DongA.com * 1996-12-19:
Ilmin Museum of Art Ilmin Museum of Art is a private art museum of South Korea, located on Sejongno street in Jongno-gu, a central district of Seoul, known for exhibiting mainly Korean art. The museum was established and run by the Ilmin Cultural Foundation ( 일민 ...
opened in the former Dong-a Ilbo newspaper building * 2000-01-01: Moves into Dong-A Media Centre in the
Gwanghwamun Gwanghwamun () is the main and largest gate of Gyeongbok Palace, in Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea. It is located at a three-way intersection at the northern end of Sejongno. As a landmark and symbol of Seoul's long history as the capital city dur ...
area * 2000-12-15: Newspaper museum "
Presseum The Presseum is the only newspaper museum of South Korea, situated on Sejongno, in Jongno-gu, central of Seoul. The museum was established and is operated by Dong-A Ilbo, one of the four major newspaper companies of South Korea. Presseum is a compo ...
" opened * 2001-07-01: World edition of paper printed in over 90 cities * 2002-01-01: Starting of ''Dong-A Ilbo''s mobile services * 2002-01-04: The first Korean newspaper company to publish the weekend section, ''Weekend'' * 2003-04-01: Introduced the Knowledge Management System (KMS), 'Genie'. * 2005-07-15: On and Off-line Newsroom unifies * 2005-08-17: Begins printing 32 pages of ''Dong-a Ilbo'' in color


Feminist movement

In 1933, ''Dong-A Ilbo'' launched ''The New Women'' (later to become ''Dong-A Women.'') The publication held events such as cooking schools and wives’ picnic providing women a place to socialize outside of the home. Articles such as “The New Woman and Education”, “Liberation of Women and the Nuclear Family” and “Women and Career” were printed to stimulate women's participation in society and the development of women's rights. ''Dong-A Ilbo'' also hosted athletic events for women. “Women’s National Tennis Competition” is Korea's and ''Dong-A''s oldest contest ever to be held.


Forced closure: Erasing of Japanese flag

In 1939 when World War II erupted, the Japanese government began a campaign to unify Korea and Japan as a culture. This meant the suppression of much of Korea's cultural identity. After four attempts to close ''DongA Ilbo'' and other numerous occasions of inspection, censorship, seizure and deletion, the Japanese government succeeded in August 1940. ''The Dong-A Ilbo'' built Dong-A Broadcasting System. Under the
Chun Doo-hwan Chun Doo-hwan (; or ; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean Republic of Korea Army, army general and military dictator who ruled as an unelected Political strongman, strongman from 1979 to 1980 before replacing Choi Kyu-hah ...
regime, South Korea's media policy had changed. The regime had closed several radio and TV networks and DBS was forced to give most of its shares to the government. ''The Dong-A Ilbo'' gave up DBS in 1980. The event that made forced closure possible was ''Dong-A Ilbos deliberate obscuration of the Japanese flag in a photograph of the first ever Korean Olympic Gold medalist.
Sohn Kee-Chung Sohn Kee-chung ( ko, 손기정, ; ; August 29, 1912 – November 15, 2002) was an Olympic athlete and long-distance runner. He became the first ethnic Korean to win a medal at the Olympic Games, winning gold in the marathon at the 1936 Berlin O ...
won the gold medal in marathon at the 11th Summer Olympics in Berlin (1936); however, because Korea was under Japanese rule, his uniform featured the Japanese flag. The article showed pride for the Korean athlete and featured a smudged Japanese flag to promote nationalistic ideas. Lee Kil-yong (aged 37 at that time), a Dong-A Ilbo journalist who was in charge of athletics, Lee Sang-beom, a painter, photographers, and editors worked together to erase the Japanese flag on the chest of the uniform of Sohn Kee-jeong from the photograph of Sohn standing atop the honor platform for the Olympic medal ceremony. The morning after the picture was published in the newspaper, about 10 journalists of Dong-A Ilbo were hauled off to the police station where they were beaten and tortured.


Changes in disposition from liberal to conservative media

In the early days, the Dong-A Ilbo passively resisted Japanese colonialism and showed liberalism and Korean nationalism tendencies. In addition, since the establishment of the South Korean government in 1948, it has been a liberal media that disagrees with socialism and opposes Syngman Rhee or Park Chung-hee's far-right dictatorship. The Dong-A Ilbo began the "Liberal Press Protection Fight" () in 1970. In December 1974, there was a "" (). The Park Chung-hee administration suppressed the Dong-A Ilbo, which was very hostile to him, threatened companies to prevent them from posting advertisements in the Dong-A Ilbo, which caused the Dong-A Ilbo to suffer from severe financial difficulties. Eventually, Dong-A Ilbo's executives fired some of the anti-government journalists on March 8, 1975. At this time, journalists who were fired will launch
Hankyoreh ''The Hankyoreh'' (, literally "The Korean Nation" or "One Nation") is a centre-left liberal daily newspaper in South Korea. It was established in 1988 after widespread purges forced out dissident journalists, and was envisioned as an alternat ...
. Since then, the Dong-A Ilbo has changed its tone to a right-wing conservative media. The paper is considered a
newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and include some of the o ...
in Korea.


Awards and recognition

* Receives Korea's Best Brand Award (2006) * ''Dong-A Ilbo'' President Sang-man Kim receives Press Freedom Golden Pen award (1975) * Awarded for efforts made in freedom of speech by US Freedom House (1974) * Staff reporters receive Korea Reporter's Award (1971)


Company


Readership

* Circulation: over 52 million * About 51% of the readers are in their 30s - 40s * Over 50% of the readers live in metropolitan area * 55% of the readers are university educated or higher


International partnerships

''Dong-A Ilbo'' has partnered with internationally acclaimed news companies such as the New York Times and
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...
. They share information including articles and video clips. ''Dong-A Ilbo'' also prints global editions in 90 cities such as Washington DC, London, Paris, Frankfurt, etc., and has 22 branches worldwide including LA, Vancouver, Osaka. It also has international correspondents stationed in 6 cities with New York, Tokyo, and Beijing among them. Also, the digital edition of the paper is available in English, Japanese and Chinese. * Partnership: ** ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' (UK) ** ''
Asahi Shimbun is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition and ...
'' (Japan) ** ''
People's Daily The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language ...
'' (China) ** ''
Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in 1917, it was a newspaper of record in the Soviet Union until the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, and describes ...
'' (Russia) ** ''
Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
'' (Australia)


Publishing

''Dong-A Ilbo'' also has an active publishing sector which produces magazines and books. There are four monthly magazines, two weekly magazines and one annual magazine. The literature sector concentrates on translating and distributing foreign material and also creating domestic content. DongA Books has brought to Korea many international bestsellers and award-winning literature as well as creating million sellers on its own. * Magazines: ** ''Shin Dong-A'' (Current events magazine) ** ''Women's Dong-A'' (Women's magazine) ** ''Dong-A Science'' (Popular science magazine) ** ''Dong-A Science KIDS'' ** ''Weekly Dong-A'' ** ''Weekend'' ** ''Dong-A Annual'' * Books ** ''Interpreter of Maladies'' by Jhumpa Lahiri (a Pulitzer winning fiction) ** ''A Walk in the Woods'' by Bill Bryson (an international bestseller) ** ''Sponge'' series (Korean content) has sold over a million copies


New and multi-media services

''Dong-A Ilbo'' has been investing in many ventures that integrate technology into the method of spreading the news. First was the establishment of DongA.com which is the online version of the paper with much more content. It provides space for discussion and submission by the readers. From the success of the on-line content, the company also started its mobile services allowing readers to seek out the news wherever and whenever they are. With recent partnership with Reuters, ''Dong-A'' aims to add multimedia services to its methods. With raw video feeds from Reuters which ''Dong-A'' has the right to edit for its own use, DongA.com aims to reach its readers through text, images and video.


Community service

''Dong-A Ilbo'' has always recognized its responsibility as a public corporation. As stated in Dong-A DNA, humanism is a great part of ''Dong-A Ilbo''. It has a Culture & Sports Operations department (New Project Bureau) that works to raise awareness of different areas in arts and sports as well as promote healthy lifestyles. The company also has many foundations and scholarships for the less fortunate students in the country.


Arts

''Dong-A Ilbo'' holds annual competition of high quality as well as hosting many cultural exhibitions. * International Music Concours * Dong-A Theatre Awards * DongA-LG International Animations Competition * Rembrandt and 17th Century Netherland Painters Exhibition (2007) and more


Sports

''Dong-A Ilbo'' hosts annual competitions for various sports of different levels. It first began its program to raise awareness and help promote areas in sports that were less popular. * Seoul International Marathon * High School Baseball Tournament * Dong-A Swim Meet and more


Education

''Dong-A'' holds annual competitions to help the brightest students. Other sectors such as ''Dong-A Science'' has its own educational program which also holds competitions to award the talented. * National English Competition (University & high school division) * National Scientific Essay Contest (hosted by DongA Science)


Charity

''Dong-A Ilbo'' has established many foundations and scholarships for students and children of less fortunate circumstances. It has also established a foundation which promotes peace and culture. * Dong-A Dream Tree's Foundation: Scholarship foundation * Inchon Foundation: Founded in celebration of Kim, Sung-soo. Scholarship foundation. * 21st Century Peace Foundation: Promotes peace and harmony between North and South Korea through various means of communication and more


Criticism


See also

*
Presseum The Presseum is the only newspaper museum of South Korea, situated on Sejongno, in Jongno-gu, central of Seoul. The museum was established and is operated by Dong-A Ilbo, one of the four major newspaper companies of South Korea. Presseum is a compo ...
*
Ilmin Museum of Art Ilmin Museum of Art is a private art museum of South Korea, located on Sejongno street in Jongno-gu, a central district of Seoul, known for exhibiting mainly Korean art. The museum was established and run by the Ilmin Cultural Foundation ( 일민 ...
*
List of newspapers in South Korea This is a list of newspapers in South Korea. National papers Top 10 Comprehensive Daily newspapers *Chosun Ilbo (daily) 1,212,208 *Dong-A Ilbo (daily) 925,919 *JoongAng Ilbo (daily) 861,984 *''Hankook Ilbo'' (daily) 219,672 *''Hankyoreh'' (da ...
*
Communications in South Korea In South Korea, telecommunications services improved dramatically in the 1980s with the assistance of foreign partners and as a result of the development of the electronics industry. The number of telephones in use in 1987 reached 9.2 million, a c ...
*
Channel A (Korea) Channel A Corporation (), known as Channel A (Hangul: 채널A, typeset CHANNEL A), is a nationwide generalist cable TV network and broadcasting company in South Korea. The company's largest shareholder is Dong-A Media Group (DAMG), which co ...


References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dong a Ilbo Conservative media in South Korea The Hankyoreh Jongno District Korea under Japanese rule Korean-language newspapers Daily newspapers published in South Korea Newspapers established in 1920 1920 establishments in Korea Right-wing newspapers