The government also created Korea’s right-wing media. Not assisted, not subsidized, created it out of thin air. In 2009, the Lee Myung-bak administration tapped Byeon Hee-jae, a pathetic gadfly whose only claim to fame until that point was being called “a gadfly no one ever heard of” by a prominent liberal commentator, to start an online publication called Media Watch. The NIS under the Lee administration paid the seed money for Byeon to start his website. Then the Lee administration pressured corporations to buy advertisements on Byeon’s site, and also ordered government workers to sign up for Media Watch’s paid subscription. Park Geun-hye administration, for its part, pressured Naver—Korea’s analogue of Google—to bury the bad news stories from search results.



user-inactivated:

    Remember how I keep saying Korean politics is a five-year preview of US politics? Keep this in mind.

    Fortunately, there is a happy ending to this.... Ilbe is also significantly weakened from its peak in 2014.

FeelsGoodMan.jpg

The last 3 suggestions flowed nicely into 'what to do next.'

First two points feel reminiscent of the new blood in politics (thinking of AOC here) pushing conversation back toward my generation's concerns.

    But I can tell you that, when the change happens, it would not be because the liberals got these questions right. When liberals prevail, it would be because they set themselves up as the “normal ones,” while the opponents are set up as the abnormal ones.

This right here is what gets me excited for Yang/Buttigieg as candidates - Gen Xer's that are calmly staring at the situation at hand going "wtf?"

Kinda reminds me as well from a Colbert interview with ACooper, where he states the point of his show is to say "You're not going crazy." Or to take a line or two from John Oliver regarding 2016 election "This is not normal." and to not let this climate become the new normal.

Good read. Would like to see more hub-doots on that wheel.


posted 1681 days ago