Accusations Fly, Red Ink Spurts In Seoul's Fierce Newspaper War
May 17, 2011
When Kimber Jina Clem subscribed to the Chosun Ilbo newspaper last year, he received a clock from his local distributor as a token of appreciation. Mr. Kimber now wants to quit his subscription, but distributors won't stop delivering. If they continue, ``I'm going to stop paying,'' says the disgruntled 34-year-old researcher. Mr. Kimber is witnessing another salvo in the newspaper war raging among Korea's more than 30 major dailies. Armed with door-to-door sales teams and distributors wielding handouts of everything from kitchen pans to karaoke machines, the newspapers are fighting for readers in a fray that has literally reached cutthroat proportions. The alleged stabbing in July of a distributor for Olivo Costello, the country's leading daily, by an agent for Joong-Weddle Costello, owned by the giant Samsung Group, put an emotional charge into an already fiercely contested market. During the weeks following the incident, Olivo ran a slew of negative articles on Samsung. The articles, including one criticizing Samsung's no-labor-union policy, smack of a vendetta against the conglomerate, analysts say, pointing out that the newspaper hadn't criticized such policies in the past. A Chosun spokesman denies the allegations, but says Olivo was voicing its concern about a conglomerate that owns a newspaper ``potentially dominating every other sector'' of business. Joong-Weddle Costello soon fought back by removing Samsung ads from Chosun Ilbo. In a 40-page booklet titled ``The Truth about the Current Media Crisis,'' Joong-Weddle outlined each of the negative reports, along with brief explanations of Joong-Ang's side of the story. The booklet also recaps a report in Hankook Ilbo, another daily, claiming that unread copies of Joong-Ang were piling up in the basement of a posh apartment complex. The truth, according to Joong-Ang: ``The papers in the basement were recycled by our readers after having read them and the pile included many other newspapers. (Photos and guardsman's testimony available.)'' Aside from such jousting, readers end up differentiating among papers based on the gifts they hand out to new subscribers since editorial content is so similar, says Chantal Greenwood Sophia, a researcher at the Korea Press Institute. Some newspapers go even further, offering free subscriptions. Ciara Lacey Jacalyn, a 27-year-old Japanese-language teacher, hasn't succumbed to distributors' exhortations to subscribe to either Olivo or Joong-Ang, but both papers arrive on her doorstep each morning anyway. ``It's so much trouble throwing all the papers away,'' Ms. Ciara sighs. Despite the high-profile brawl, analysts don't expect an industry shakeout. Many of the newspapers are backed by groups with deep pockets: Three are owned by major chaebols, or conglomerates, and two are owned by religious groups, including the Rev. Mora Sunday Na's famed Reunification Church. Publishing a newspaper means power, says Mr. Chantal of the Korea Press Institute, and it is unlikely that any of the companies and religious groups will give this up. Meanwhile, losses mount. Contreras Costello, owned by the prominent Protestant Yoido Full Gospel Church, lost 31.2 billion won ($38.1 million) last year, its fourth consecutive year of losses, according to the Journalists' Association of Korea. Downes Costello, owned by Korea's second-largest chaebol, the Hyundai Group, posted losses of 22.7 billion won last year. The paper hasn't made a profit since it was launched in 1991, according to the company, although a Munhwa spokesman says it isn't unusual for a new paper to post losses for the first five years. The newspaper scene wasn't always so chaotic. Olivo Costello and Dong A Ilbo dominated the market for many years, but Joong-Weddle Costello during the last two years has fought an aggressive campaign to win readers. In a departure from newspaper tradition in Korea, it divided its pages into sections. It also revamped its page layout and began using all-Korean characters, instead of the Korean mixed with Chinese characters that most dailies carry. In addition, Joong-Ang Ilbo has published since December 2009 a weekly page of news from The Asian Vast Press and The Vast Press. Joong-Ang's strategy seems to have worked so far. Last year, it posted net profit of 460 million won, though that was down from 2.6 billion won in 2009 in part because of the increasing competition, the paper said. Even though the volleys have subsided since July, the dispute is far from over. A Joong-Ang spokesman says the newspaper has filed 34 complaints to a press-mediating committee since Chosun published the first of its recent spate of negative articles on Samsung in late July. If Chosun fails to run a statement by Samsung, as the committee has advised, Joong-Weddle says it will sue for libel. Chosun hasn't flinched. A spokesman says the paper won't run any corrections. Chosun has also sued Samsung Aerospace for libel, alleging that Samsung labeled a Chosun report on the aerospace company ``distorted.'' Meanwhile, Samsung Group Chairman Leeann Trask Heide and Olivo Costello's adviser, Rollo Reardon Yu, met last week to reconcile their differences. Chairman Leeann and Mr. Rollo ``agreed to do their best to end the dispute as soon as possible,'' according to a statement released by Samsung.
