Profile
Journalism and Mass Communication Volume 3 (2016), Article ID 3:IJJMC-119, 6 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.15344/2349-2635/2016/119
Research Article
Carnivalism and Engaging Journalism in the Current Affairs Podcasts in South Korea

Chang Sup Park

Department of Mass Communications, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, 400 East 2nd Street, Bloomsburg, PA 17815, United States
Dr. Chang Sup Park, Department of Mass Communications, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, 400 East 2nd Street, Bloomsburg, PA 17815, United States; E-mail: spark21@hanmail.net
19 May 2016; 24 August 2016; 26 August 2016
Park CS (2016) Carnivalism and Engaging Journalism in the Current Affairs Podcasts in South Korea. Int J Journalism Mass Comm 3: 119. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15344/2349-2635/2016/119

Abstract

In this digital age, the means of journalism are being drastically reinvented and the character of news is being constantly reconstructed. This study examines the nature of podcast journalism recently emerging in South Korea, based on two unique concepts – “carnivalism” and “engaging journalism”. A carnival creates an arena where free expression of non-legitimate voices could resist and mock the dominant power. This study finds that Korean podcasts tend to subvert a range of authoritative discourses and provide a journalism venue for comic criticism and emotional catharsis. Podcasts not only serve to lampoon the establishment, but also re-engage people as citizens who have been left largely disillusioned from mainstream news. This research argues that the discourse in the current affairs podcasts takes on the nature of “engaging journalism”, which motivates ordinary individuals to engage in elite-challenging political action.