Going through difficulties, striving to establish their identities
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Korean universities’ English newspapers and magazines have a history of over half acentury. The Dongguk Post visited the offices of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Sookmyung Women’s University, Konkuk University, University of Seoul‚ and Yonsei University’s English newspapers and magazines to interview the editors in chief of each. Through this report, the Post looked for information regarding how they operate and what they pursue in order to grasp the real situation and prepare for a new forum for exchange among universities’ English-based media.
Now, in 2016, most universities in Korea have an English newspaper or magazine and they are playing their roles as university media. In today’s globalized era, media in English are significant because they can have a broader reader base. However, the crisis of the universitymedia comes up the surface. Editors from each university’s English newspapers and magazines pointed out the decreasing subscription rate and budget cuts are the maintroubles that they are facing with. In addition, all of them agreed that it is expected they willseek solution to overcome these problems and blaze a new trail.
These interviews with other universities’ English newspapers and magazines revealed thatthey all recognize both the importance and crisis of English media on campus. Nevertheless, they are still staying as the media of universities and trying to represent members on campus including international students.
The Konkuk Bulletin (The English Magazine of Konkuk University)
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| ▲ Heo Jae, the editor-in-chief of The Konkuk Bulletin | ||
| /Photograph by Lee Min-jeong | ||
Q. The Konkuk Bulletin has distinctive categories of articles. Will you introduce some of them?
A. The Konkuk Bulletin is categorized of Campus Briefing, Cover Story, Global Life, Issue, Think&Talk, Naked Review, KU Comment‚ and so on. I think KUComment and Think & Talk sections are special among them. KU Comment section is similar toCampus Briefing since they both handle the schoolissue, but KU Comment is more than just informing. The articles on KU Comment denounce the matters and suggest the countermeasures of it. For Think & Talk articles, we set a topic and interviewed six students, asking their opinions regarding the specific topic. It is significant because it delivers various thoughts about the issue.
Q. Does The Konkuk Bulletin communicate well with the students?
A. We have a magazine evaluation session with readers after every magazine is issued. We invite two readers and get their feedback on the last magazine. Normally, they tell what they think about The Konkuk Bulletin and suggest better ideas of design or articles. Even though we only meet two readers in a short time, having an evaluation time with readers is our important communicating strategy.
Q. Is The Konkuk Bulletin going through any difficulties?
A. A low subscription rate is one of the difficulties we face. To solve this problem, we used SNS to advertise the magazine. However, the most efficient way is cooperating with Konkuk Press, the Korean newspaper of Konkuk University, and Konkuk Academic Broadcasting System (ABS). We three organizations advertise each other in each newspaper or video. It does not cost any extra money and we can get closer as media of Konkuk University.
The Argus (The English Magazine of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies)
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| ▲ Jang Eun-ae, the editor-in-chief of The Argus | ||
| /Photograph by Choi Young-eun | ||
Q. How is The Argus produced?
A. We have item meetings six times in two weeks. In the final week, when the articles are completed, we send them to three foreign professors and get feedbacks about the articles twice. For the design of the magazines, we visit our hired professional designers’ office and have a discussion with them regarding the composition of articles on papers and the entire design of the magazine.
Q. What types of articles does The Argus mostly cover?
A. We are trying to notify the school issues related to international students, so we usually cover the issues related to changes in school policy or programs for them. Even though Hankuk University of Foreign Studies has many international students, I do not think school programs are designedwell for them. Therefore, as the only English magazine of the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, we wantto offer them as much information as possible so that they do not feel isolated.
Q. In what ways does the school support The Argus?
A. I think many other universities’ newspapers experienced conflict with school authorities in terms of the selection of topics for the articles. Fortunately, the president of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies respects the reporters and magazine as university media, so weare relatively free in choosing the topics of the articles. Also, since the president supports uswell financially, we do not have any budget problems.
Q. As university media, what values does The Argus pursue?
A. Ithink thearticles of The Argus can give implications to readers, so that they can think for themselves regarding the issues that happen then in either school or in society. Therefore, weare trying to have a critical voice in the articles especially on school issues.
The UOS Times (The English Magazine of University of Seoul)
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| ▲ Moon Han-sol, the editor-in-chief of The UOS Times | ||
| /Photograph by You Eun-sun | ||
Q. How is The UOS Times produced?
A. We have an item meeting and two supplementary meetings in two weeks. After all the reporters finish writing their articles, the editor in chief reviews them and three foreign professors revise the proofs. For thedesign of the magazine, we submit the draft proposalto the hired professional designers, who design the entire layout and have discussions with us about the details.
Q. What do you think are the most important aspectsregarding the articles?
A. We keep deliberating on what students are interested in and what they should know. For instance, in the last issue we printed an article regarding the residential problems of university students such as rental fee and public safety, which are related to the real life of students. Furthermore, we give a higher priority to topics that reporters cover in the field and report onthese with a sense of immediacy rather than following the established media.
Q. Does The UOS Times print articles about or related to international issues and internationalstudents?
A. Actually, international students in University of Seoul (UOS) are the key target readers ofThe UOS Times. Thus, we do cover articles related to them. There was an article regarding “The Global Lounge”in the 137th edition, a place where UOS students can go and share different languages and cultures. In addition, we wrote an article about visiting the UK and covered its culture from our perspective. We tried to include the point of view Korean students have on international students and their culture. Moreover, we have made a new category of articles introducing universities in other countries which have sister relations with UOS. We hope this page can inform Korean students about the student exchange programs.
Q. Are there any hardships The UOS Times is going through?
A. The lack of interest from readers and the shortage of manpower are problems we have to cope with. It seems that most students have little interest in social issues and the media of the school. Accordingly, it is difficult to recruit new reporters and maintain activities with the set system. The executive editor was worried about that and reduced the frequency of publication. I think many other universities’ newspapers are struggling to secure their budgets. UOS is an university under city management, so The UOS Times does not have a considerable problem regarding its budget. However, the budget allocated to media within UOS has beendecreasing. I believe the situation university media face regarding budget cuts indicates thelack of interest toward university media.
Q. As the media of the university, what values does The UOS Times need to pursue?
A. I hope articles of The UOS Times are useful to readers. There was an international student from Taiwan who said the information we provided regarding scholarships was really helpful.I felt responsible for the content of the magazine. Additionally, we need to solve problems that university media are facing with. We are trying to attract more readers and provide themwith more vivid reportage.
The Sookmyung Times (The English Magazine of Sookmyung Women's University)
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| ▲ Chang Chun Hee-jin, the editor-in-chief of The Sookmyung Times | ||
| /Photograph by Lee Min-jeong | ||
Q. The Sookmyung Times has been issued in the formof a magazine. What are the pros and the cons of such form?
A. Magazines are easily accessible and useful to advertise our articles to freshmen, international students and school visitors. However, we work with designers who are helping us to design the format of the magazine and it is not easy to try out new design formats. Plus, since making magazines costs more than of newspapers, we have reduced the number ofmagazine published.
Q. What articles does The Sookmyung Times mostly cover?
A. We mainly write articles about our school and its issues, hence, the connection between topics, university students and Sookmyung Women’s University is the most important.
Q. Are there any articles about international students?
A. There is a category called “Sookmate,” which is used for introducing several nations’ cultures through interviews with international students.
In the latest magazine, we handled the topic, “Special Holidays from Around the World” by interviewing Chinese, Japanese‚ and Bruneian students. We are able to communicate regularly with international students because of “Sookmate.” In this regard, writing articles for“Sookmate” is meaningful. In addition, in November of 2014, we printed an article titled “Are You with Exchanged Students?” This article let students reflect on themselves by asking if they really communicatewell with international students. The English magazine takes the role of a window, linking the school and students, or different groups of students. We need to deliver messages about what students need to know about the school or other groups of students. That is why we put effort into writing articles about international students.
Q. What are the special traits that The Sookmyung Times has?
A. The most different feature from other universities’ newspapers is that we have articles about female since we are an English magazine at a women’s university. We treat wide ranges of issues: from gender equality to females’ culture, for example, a dessert consuming culture. We are also trying to reinterpret sexual matters by ourselves, write articlesand deliver the message to the readers. In addition, our reporters put two last names on the magazines, one from father, another from mother.
Q. Is The Sookmyung Times going through any difficulties?
A. Probably this could be the common hardship of most English newspapers of other universities; a low subscription rate. Not that many students of Sookmyung Women’s University are aware of The Sookmyung Times. To solve the problem, we have introduced our magazine during the “international studentbriefing session” and have held an event on online. Also, we have been posting articles onSNS. Fortunately, many students give attention and leave the comments with their opinions about the articles.
Q. As university media, what values does The Sookmyung Times pursue?
A. The English magazine has a huge advantage in the fact that it is written in English. It enables us to have communication with international students and foreign professors. Therefore, it is important to cover school matters in depth and report the news accurately immediately after they occured.
The Yonsei Annals (The English Magazine of Yonsei University)
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| ▲ Moon Sook-hyun, the editor-in-chief of The Yonsei Annals | ||
| /Photography from The Yonsei Annals | ||
Q. The Yonsei Annals has been issued in the form of amagazine. What are the pros and cons of a magazine?
A. A magazine can provide more in depth coverage and include dynamic image layouts. However, as it is a monthly magazine, reporting on time is difficult.
Q. What types of articles does The Yonsei Annals mostly cover?
A. We issue articles regarding campus news, social issues, cultural issues and photo essays with a reporter’s free thoughts. Making sure the items correspond with the relevant news page and current affairs is necessary.
Q. Are there any articles about international students?
A. There was an article which covered the poor management of Korean universities regardinginternational students, under the title “Wanted, then Forgotten” in the latest issue. There hasbeen an increasing number of international students in Korean universities and we wanted tocommunicate that it is necessary to establish systematic operations for them.
Q. Does The Yonsei Annals go through any hardships?
A. I think the small percentage of readers and the shortage of manpower are the most difficult aspects in running the media. Yonsei University reduced the budget for The Yonsei Annals due to the low subscription rate and recruiting new reporters is also a problem as the interest about the media within the school has decreased.
Q. What types of efforts are made to overcome those hardships?
A. We focus on promoting The Yonsei Annals to readers. We have an online homepage and a Facebook page for The Yonsei Annals where we upload articles regularly and have eventsfor readers. In addition, we get some feedback regarding the magazine from reader evaluation groups and try to communicate with readers. International students and people who speak English are increasing on campus, therefore, it is expected that more readers will start to subscribe the magazine.
Q. What do you think is the value the media of the university need to pursue?
A. I believe “diversity” is the desirable value the media of the university need to pursue.In this multicultural and globalized age, more people from different backgrounds are broughtonto the campus. Accordingly, English media should speak for them and report on the changed atmosphere and news.