South Korean Media System: Toward a Democratization Model

Abstract

Translated from the published article in Communication Theories vol. 6 (No.1): 144-190, 2010 with permission from the Korean Society for Journalism and Communication Studies.From a perspective of the media systems approach, we attempt to provide a media system model that accounts for the characteristics of the relationship between political and media systems in the democratization process of Korean society. Using the model, we explore the possibility by which media system has set the limit on the directions of political democratization. The notion of political parallelism is employed to characterize the historical changes of the role of the news media in function of public spheres in relation to political system. The Korean way of political parallelism accounts for the process by which mainstream newspapers and broadcasters have influenced political parties and civil society. The implications are discussed in terms of the role of media system in democratization