As a result of comparative analysis of the Chosun Ilbo and Hankyoreh editorials published during the 100 days of President Yoon Seok-yeol’s inauguration, the partisanship of the media was clearly revealed. The Chosun Ilbo praised the Yoon Seok-yeol government in a way that criticized the Moon Jae-in government and the Democratic Party, and the Hankyoreh did not write a single editorial favorable to the Yoon Seok-yeol government.
Moon Chul-soo, a professor at the Department of Media, Video, archyde news and Public Relations at Hanshin University, published in the Korean Journal of Communication in February this year. <윤석열 정부의 국가정책에 대한 언론의 시각 분석> Through the thesis, the Chosun Ilbo and the Hankyoreh’s editorial tone related to the Yoon Seok-yeol government was analyzed. It is a well-known fact that the difference in tone between the editorials of the Chosun Ilbo and the Hankyoreh is stark. The significance of this thesis is that this hypothesis was verified through editorial analysis.
The number of editorials related to the Yoon Seok-yeol government is 233 in the Chosun Ilbo and 219 in the Hankyoreh. The fields in which the Chosun Ilbo and the Hankyoreh showed common interest were △opposition, National Assembly, election △personnel policy △people’s livelihood economy △diplomatic response △union response. In the case of editorials related to defense and security policies, the Chosun Ilbo (6.4%) showed more interest than the Hankyoreh (1.8%), and the Hankyoreh wrote 38 editorials (17.3%) on personnel policies. There were only 20 editorials (8.6%) in the Chosun Ilbo about personnel policy.
The difference in tone between the two newspapers was stark. As a result of classifying article tone as friendly, neutral, and critical, Chosun Ilbo editorials were in the order of friendly tone, 43.4% neutral tone, and critical tone 12.0%. Among the entire editorials of the Hankyoreh, 53.0% were critical and 47.0% were neutral. The Hankyoreh did not write a single editorial favorable to the Yoon Seok-yeol government.
Professor Chul-soo Moon said, “It is a very different aspect from the Moon Jae-in administration’s early investigation. He said, “This is a part that shows the fierce confrontation between conservatives and progressives in a situation where they returned to the conservative government after 5 years.” The Chosun Ilbo wrote a number of critical editorials (82.9%) in the early days of the Moon Jae-in administration, but the number decreased as the conservative government came into power.
The Chosun Ilbo evaluated the Yoon Seok-yeol government favorably in the form of criticizing the Moon Jae-in government and the Democratic Party. While criticizing the former administration and the Democratic Party, it shows support for the policies of the current government. Such editorials account for 70.2% of the total favorable tone editorials. The Hankyoreh presented direct criticism of President Yoon Seok-yeol’s personnel policy and First Lady Kim Kun-hee.
As a result of analyzing keyword relevance, the Chosun Ilbo frequently mentioned former President Moon Jae-in in editorials dealing with the Yoon Seok-yeol government. Professor Moon Cheol-soo explained, “This means that there was a lot of criticism of the past government.” The word ‘president’ and the word ‘opposition’ are closely linked. This is because the Chosun Ilbo focused heavily on the opposition party’s confrontation with the president. In addition, the Chosun Ilbo mainly linked the word ‘Moon Jae-in’ with the words regime, government, crime, investigation, and enforcement.
In the case of the Hankyoreh editorial, ‘government’ and ‘concern’ were most closely linked. Keywords often mentioned in editorials are government, problem, situation, president, President Yoon Seok-yeol, and concern. It shows that there were many facts in the tone that directly criticized the president in the Hankyoreh.
Professor Chul-soo Moon said, “Through this study, we were able to confirm the extreme partisanship of conservative and progressive media. However, there is a problem with reports that appear according to the media’s partisan interests, and the evil that hinders the formation of correct public opinion due to this is a problem,” he said.