Q1. Simply introduce yourself!

I was born in Daejeon and spent my childhood and school days in Daejeon. After going through the Student Military Education Program (ROTC), I served in the military for 3 years. I wanted to walk the path of a soldier to fulfill my childhood dream. However, I was seriously injured during training, and I was discharged after completing my mandatory service period.

Immediately after discharge, the aftermath of the financial crisis continued. Companies continued to close. It was therefore a time when companies were not hiring new workers.

I was thirsty for a job, so it was my job to send dozens of resumes a day. My career path and aptitude were not considered. Along with this, I earned pocket money by delivering newspapers in the morning and studied at the library during the day.

Then I joined the Children's Education Publishing House and worked in marketing. Next, I worked as an English teacher at a middle school in Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do. I then became involved in media and have been working as a reporter since then.

Q2. Please explain what a reporter does!

I will not answer with the professional meaning described in language dictionaries or career textbooks. Instead, I will answer by focusing on history.

The monarchs of the Joseon dynasty, such as Lee Seong-gye, Lee Bang-won, and Yeonsan-gun, wanted to see annals written by history officers. At the same time, they had the mindset of "I will look at history and learn lessons," and "I will check whether the officers are writing properly." However, the monarchs wanted to correct the annals if the descriptions of themselves or their ancestors were written negatively.

At that time, officers banned and opposed the monarch's reading. In particular, at great risk to his life, the history officer Shingae stood up to the orders of the monarchs who had the power to decide life or death. The reason was that if a recorder becomes conscious of the monarch, history cannot be recorded objectively. Furthermore, if the monarch's revisions of the annals sets a precedent, subsequent monarchs will also be involved in recording history; therefore, future generations will not be able to trust historical records. It was this logic that put his life at risk.

I think this history officer’s spirit is what reporters should reflect today. That's why society often calls the job of a reporter the job of setting an alarm for society. On the contrary, it is also the reason for being criticized as giregi if a reporter fails to properly practice this duty.

Q3. Is there any reason that you decided to become a reporter?

When students talk about the characteristics of each of their friends, they are jokingly categorized according to humanities or natural sciences. There are also some things in common among the characteristics of people entering the press (media) world: having a sense of justice; having the desire to analyze social phenomena; wanting to represent the voices of people who are experiencing difficulties; having much interest in policy, society, and current affairs; the ability to secure news from all directions; and enjoying going to various places to gather information. The motives of those who enter journalism are different. However, they have the same desire to help the country and society.

Today's middle-aged reporters are the generation who spent their school days during the military rule in the 1980s and the early 1990s. At that time, people could not directly elect a president. It was a time when the president was elected by an unfair vote by a group of dubiously chosen “representatives.”

So, it was a time when there were frequent protests against the military regime. Even if today’s middle-aged reporters didn’t take part in the protest, they were part of the generation who grew up smelling tear gas after watching their sisters and brothers’ demonstrating. The painful memories of longing for democracy must have motivated them to become reporters. I am not too dissimilar.

Young reporters today have a somewhat different motive. The desire to remedy injustices and address the polarization that exists in today’s society, such as that concerning college entrance examinations, employment, and the poor, must have motivated them to join the world of reporters.

However, even though the motives for becoming a reporter are different among generations, they have the same desire to help the country and society.

Q4. What attitude do you think a reporter should have?

When I was studying for a media exam, and when I was a young reporter, I thought that there were certain qualities and abilities that a reporter should have: logical writing skills, eloquent speech, the ability to uncover secrets, etc. However, when I look back now, they are not important. They are just simple techniques.

I think the important skill is maintaining an interest in lifelong study and people. Even after becoming a reporter, you have to constantly study on your own until the day you retire. This is an even more important endeavor in an era of explosive growth and rapid change in technology and knowledge. Your interest in people should also grow. In modern society, interest in technology and capital is increasing rapidly. This can lead to increased indifference towards people. Even if technology and capital expand, what still matters is the people.

Q5. What are some things to watch out for when writing an article?

I am not going to talk about the basic skills of writing, such as composing clear sentences, logical development, and using easy-to-understand expressions. The steps a baby learns to walk are the fundamental basics. In addition to this, you shouldn't think, "I'm not going to be a newspaper reporter, but a TV reporter, so I just have to talk well." Writing is as important as the quick-thinking skills necessary to cope with real situations, even for TV reporters. In addition, these days, the videos and articles broadcast on TV news channels can also be read on the Internet. In other words, reporting begins with writing and ends with writing.

Reporters are like lawyers. You should write an article that logically analyzes events and phenomena based on causal relationships and evidence. The appearance of a lawyer who uses articulate speech to persuade a judge and jury is only seen in TV dramas. In actual trials, a lawyer submits an article summarizing various arguments to a judge, who then uses this as the material for passing judgment. Most litigation cases are handled in this way.

By the way, more important than these basic skills is the ability to control one's mind and thoughts. If you focus on the scene of an incident or what other people say when you're covering a story, you'll be subconsciously immersed in the atmosphere. If you write an article in such a state, you will lose both the objective perspective and the logical development, leaving only the narcissistic text. As a result, news loses its persuasive power, which leads to poor communication and a loss of readers. When reporting, it is necessary to get immersed in the subject, but when writing an article, it is necessary to maintain a thorough third-party perspective from a distance. This is because the visible is not the whole truth in the world.

Another reason to maintain self-control and an objective perspective concerns bonafide victims. This means that even if a reporter reports news with good intentions, it can lead to unexpected victims in unexpected areas.

Let me give you an example. It was beautiful to see men and women walking along the spring streets where cherry blossoms were fluttering down onto the path. So, a reporter used a photo of this while delivering the weather news. The reporter described the photo as lovers walking down a cherry blossom path in the photo description and photo title. The reporter was sued by the supposed lovers. The reason was that the man and the woman were coworkers, and they were just on their way back to their company after enjoying lunch outside. However, the reporter stated that they were lovers, so their respective spouses suspected an affair, which led to a family breakdown. This case is one of the real misinformation cases learned about during reporter training courses.

Q6. Do you have a memorable experience or incident?

Most news is usually critical. Many things cause anger rather than joy. The target of anger is primarily people. That's why people in the news also express their anger over the publicity of their mistakes or of their misconduct. Their anger often targets reporters. So, after the news is reported, they hurl all kinds of insults and threaten the reporter deemed responsible. The intimidated reporter is scared to commute to work because of concerns about the safety of him- or herself and family members.

As a first-time reporter, I was covering the used-car market, reporting on tricks by dealers. This was to prevent consumer damage. After the report, the used-car dealers took turns making dozens of calls a day, scaring me for a month or so. Some of them even came to my workplace to meet with executives and demand the removal of articles.

I was courageous at first, but gradually fear dominated me. At that time, I heard rumors that gangsters worked in the used-car market. Because of this, I was afraid of commuting to work because I was worried that I would be harmed in a dark alley. I used to sleep and wake up late at night just by hearing the sound of footsteps or motorcycles outside the window of my room. In the end, nothing happened. But from then on, when I was writing articles, I used to be afraid.

These things happen quite often during the news-gathering process. Particularly, it is common for physical fights to occur when emotions run high. On the contrary, it would be quite unpleasant to see reporters raising suspicions of corruption from the other side.

Q7. What advice can you give to students who want to become reporters?

Society is changing rapidly. Technology advances every day, countless information is pouring out, and social phenomena are diversifying. Consequently, there are many times when it is difficult to understand what something means. So, you have to study the field again from scratch.

As each field of society is rapidly evolving, the necessary knowledge of reporters is changing from general to specific. Therefore, we are asking for reporters who have extensive knowledge in a specific field to deliver in-depth news to readers. For this reason, media nowadays give reporters with expert knowledge the title of professional reporter, which did not exist in the past.

Senior reporters often tell their younger juniors, “Now we have to study our whole life.”

Q8. Finally, what would you like to say to students?

I have been invited to elementary and middle schools to provide career exploration education. Each time, I talk about how the media has changed from the past to the present day, what is the reason for the change, and how the preferences of news consumers are changing. Through this, I explain the competencies and roles reporters need.

However, students' interests are elsewhere. After the lecture, most of the students' questions are like this: “So, what is your annual salary (salary)?” “Which pays better, TV reporting or newspaper journalism?”

If your goal is to make a lot of money, it is difficult working as a reporter. All jobs are the same, but it is difficult to work without a sense of duty. Work hours are irregular and you have to work late at night or even on weekends. You have to live an insecure life full of deadlines and threats made by malicious people. Many other hardships require patience. I would like to ask those of you who dream of becoming a reporter whether you act like a moth only attracted by bright lights.