OhmyNews
Encyclopedia
OhmyNews is a South Korea
n online newspaper website with the motto "Every Citizen is a Reporter". It was founded by Oh Yeon Ho
on February 22, 2000.
It is the first of its kind in the world to accept, edit and publish articles from its readers, in an open source
style of news reporting. About 20% of the site's content is written by the 55-person staff, while most of the articles are written by other freelance contributors who are mostly ordinary citizens.
OhmyNews was influential in determining the outcome of the South Korean presidential election, 2002
. After being elected, President Roh Moo-hyun
granted his first interview to OhmyNews.
OhmyNews International
is an English language online newspaper that features "citizen reporter
" articles written by contributors from all over the globe. Its content is almost 100% citizen reporter.
On February 22, 2006, OhmyNews and Japan
ese firm Softbank
signed an investment contract valued at US$11 million. In 2006 OhmyNews started to build a Japan-based citizen-participatory journalism site called OhmyNews Japan, launched on August 28 with a famous Japanese journalist and 22 other employees working under ten reporters. These journalists' articles were the object of much criticism; on November 17, 2006, the newspaper ended the citizen-participation aspect of the paper. The South Korean newspaper admitted that OhmyNews Japan had failed. In July 2008, all staff of OhmyNews Japan were dismissed, and by the end of August operations had ceased on the site.
The 2nd Citizen Reporters' Forum was held by OhmyNews in Seoul, Korea from July 12–15, 2006. The 3rd International Citizen Reporters Forum was held by OhmyNews in Seoul from June 27 to 29, 2007.
On November 24, 2007, OhmyNews opened a "citizen journalism school" to serve as a "collaborative knowledge center" for classes in journalism, digital cameras and photojournalism. It is located 90 minutes from Seoul
in the refurbished building of an elementary school
. The faculty will include OhmyNews editors and other journalists from print, radio and television. There is in-school lodging and dining capacity for 50 guests.
On July 8, 2009, Oh Yeon-ho revealed that Ohmynews was losing up to 700 m won
yearly, and appealed to website users to join a voluntary subscription scheme.
Critics argue that Ohmynews is losing original features as alternative–independent media in financial independence.
Oh Yeon-ho said, “70 to 80 percent of our revenue came from corporate advertising and sponsorships. In contrast, contributions from readers only totaled five percent of total revenue.” Oh also argued, “We have not received a cent from Lee Myungbak government for central government advertising.”
However a government report to National Assembly in 2009 revealed that Ohmynews received 120 m won
(approximately 100,000 dollars) for government advertising from February 2008 to July 2009.
An Ohmynews report said they had received about 870 m won
(approximately 900,000 dollars) for government advertising from 2003 to 2007 by introducing government official reports to National Assembly.
An alternative medium Pressian reported Oh's comments, "I respect Samsung as major business partner," and introduced about 20 percent of the total advertising and cooperation revenue of Ohmynews is coming from Samsung for years, the biggest business corporate of Korea.
Simply, OmN had become a victim of its own success; their paide editorial staff no longer felt that they could verify facts in stories that poured in from all over the world—roughly 225 articles/day from a pool of 70,000 citizen journalists.
OhMyNews asks, "How are regular people making and changing the news?" OmN gave its writers these pieces of advice: (1)"Write for the citizen journalism site in your country or create your own blog. (2) Tell us what you are writing about, and give us a feed to include in our aggregator." (3) OmN is eager to hear from us and hopes we'll stay active in citizen journalism.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/295823
OhMyNews International now has a group of curators—a much smaller pool. According to OmN, what is a Curator and how are they chosen?
"Curators use their sources to find news about citizen journalism and bring it to OMNI. Each curator is a specialist in a certain subject or region. They are entrusted to find credible sources and put them together in a logical fashion for our readers."
"Curators are important to our operation. They are given a great deal of trust. In order to maintain credibility amongst our team members, new curators come join through recommendations of existing curators. And even amongst the curators we have different levels depending on their experience and contributions. This is to maintain a steady level of quality and credibility with our readers." http://international.ohmynews.com/about Joe McPherson regularly sends emails on advice to curators for story topics.
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
n online newspaper website with the motto "Every Citizen is a Reporter". It was founded by Oh Yeon Ho
Oh Yeon Ho
Oh Yeon Ho is the founder of "citizen journalism" in the Republic of Korea, and CEO of OhmyNews a new approach to cyber-journalism in which ordinary citizens can contribute to a major news organization through being at news events, filing reports, and having their work verified and edited by a...
on February 22, 2000.
It is the first of its kind in the world to accept, edit and publish articles from its readers, in an open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
style of news reporting. About 20% of the site's content is written by the 55-person staff, while most of the articles are written by other freelance contributors who are mostly ordinary citizens.
History
South Korean Presidential Election, 2002
The 16th South Korean Presidential Election took place on 19 December 2002. The election was won by Roh Moo-Hyun of the Millennium Democratic Party, who beat Lee Hoi-chang of the Grand National Party by just over half a million votes.-Results:...
. After being elected, President Roh Moo-hyun
Roh Moo-hyun
Roh Moo-hyun GOM GCB was the 16th President of South Korea .Roh's pre-presidential political career was focused on human rights advocacy for student activists in South Korea. His electoral career later expanded to a focus on overcoming regionalism in South Korean politics, culminating in his...
granted his first interview to OhmyNews.
OhmyNews International
OhmyNews International
OhmyNews International is the worldwide, English-language site of the South Korean online citizen journalism newspaper OhmyNews. OhmyNews International was established by OhmyNews founder Oh Yeon Ho on February 22, 2004 on the principle that "Every citizen in the world is a reporter." It currently...
is an English language online newspaper that features "citizen reporter
Citizen journalism
Citizen journalism is the concept of members of the public "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information," according to the seminal 2003 report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information...
" articles written by contributors from all over the globe. Its content is almost 100% citizen reporter.
On February 22, 2006, OhmyNews and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese firm Softbank
SoftBank
is a Japanese telecommunications and internet corporation, with operations in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-Commerce, Internet, broadmedia, technology services, finance, media and marketing, and other businesses....
signed an investment contract valued at US$11 million. In 2006 OhmyNews started to build a Japan-based citizen-participatory journalism site called OhmyNews Japan, launched on August 28 with a famous Japanese journalist and 22 other employees working under ten reporters. These journalists' articles were the object of much criticism; on November 17, 2006, the newspaper ended the citizen-participation aspect of the paper. The South Korean newspaper admitted that OhmyNews Japan had failed. In July 2008, all staff of OhmyNews Japan were dismissed, and by the end of August operations had ceased on the site.
The 2nd Citizen Reporters' Forum was held by OhmyNews in Seoul, Korea from July 12–15, 2006. The 3rd International Citizen Reporters Forum was held by OhmyNews in Seoul from June 27 to 29, 2007.
On November 24, 2007, OhmyNews opened a "citizen journalism school" to serve as a "collaborative knowledge center" for classes in journalism, digital cameras and photojournalism. It is located 90 minutes from Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...
in the refurbished building of an elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
. The faculty will include OhmyNews editors and other journalists from print, radio and television. There is in-school lodging and dining capacity for 50 guests.
On July 8, 2009, Oh Yeon-ho revealed that Ohmynews was losing up to 700 m won
Korean won
The won was the currency of Korea between 1902 and 1910. It was subdivided into 100 chon .-Etymology:Won is a cognate of the Chinese yuan and Japanese yen.-History:...
yearly, and appealed to website users to join a voluntary subscription scheme.
Critics argue that Ohmynews is losing original features as alternative–independent media in financial independence.
Oh Yeon-ho said, “70 to 80 percent of our revenue came from corporate advertising and sponsorships. In contrast, contributions from readers only totaled five percent of total revenue.” Oh also argued, “We have not received a cent from Lee Myungbak government for central government advertising.”
However a government report to National Assembly in 2009 revealed that Ohmynews received 120 m won
Korean won
The won was the currency of Korea between 1902 and 1910. It was subdivided into 100 chon .-Etymology:Won is a cognate of the Chinese yuan and Japanese yen.-History:...
(approximately 100,000 dollars) for government advertising from February 2008 to July 2009.
An Ohmynews report said they had received about 870 m won
Korean won
The won was the currency of Korea between 1902 and 1910. It was subdivided into 100 chon .-Etymology:Won is a cognate of the Chinese yuan and Japanese yen.-History:...
(approximately 900,000 dollars) for government advertising from 2003 to 2007 by introducing government official reports to National Assembly.
An alternative medium Pressian reported Oh's comments, "I respect Samsung as major business partner," and introduced about 20 percent of the total advertising and cooperation revenue of Ohmynews is coming from Samsung for years, the biggest business corporate of Korea.
See also
On August 1, 2010, OhMyNews of South Korea announced a change in its format from an "edited citizen journalist news site" to a "blog dedicated to covering and discussing the world of citizen journalism itself," starting the following month. The new URL is http://international.ohmynews.comSimply, OmN had become a victim of its own success; their paide editorial staff no longer felt that they could verify facts in stories that poured in from all over the world—roughly 225 articles/day from a pool of 70,000 citizen journalists.
OhMyNews asks, "How are regular people making and changing the news?" OmN gave its writers these pieces of advice: (1)"Write for the citizen journalism site in your country or create your own blog. (2) Tell us what you are writing about, and give us a feed to include in our aggregator." (3) OmN is eager to hear from us and hopes we'll stay active in citizen journalism.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/295823
OhMyNews International now has a group of curators—a much smaller pool. According to OmN, what is a Curator and how are they chosen?
"Curators use their sources to find news about citizen journalism and bring it to OMNI. Each curator is a specialist in a certain subject or region. They are entrusted to find credible sources and put them together in a logical fashion for our readers."
"Curators are important to our operation. They are given a great deal of trust. In order to maintain credibility amongst our team members, new curators come join through recommendations of existing curators. And even amongst the curators we have different levels depending on their experience and contributions. This is to maintain a steady level of quality and credibility with our readers." http://international.ohmynews.com/about Joe McPherson regularly sends emails on advice to curators for story topics.
- Media in South Korea
- Culture of South Korea
External links
- OhmyNews (Korean language)
- OhmyNews International (English language)
- International press react to OhmyNews
- TIME magazine profile of contributor Kim Hye-won
- Giants of Citizen Media Meet Up The TyeeThe TyeeThe Tyee is an independent Canadian online web magazine, which focuses on coverage of news and media issues in British Columbia.The Tyee was launched in November 2003 by David Beers, a journalist who had previously been associated with the Vancouver Sun...
, October 24, 2007 - OhmyNews Citizen Journalism School Opens, OhmyNews, November 24, 2007
- The End of OhmyNews Japan, Global Voices Online, September 18, 2008