https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_coverage_of_North_Korea#Sensationalism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Act_(South_Korea) only allowing for negative news against NK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_coverage_of_North_Korea#Sensationalism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Act_(South_Korea) only allowing for negative news against NK
You can call independent journalism private as an epithet all you want, but I’m still not going to trust North Korean BBC to report truthfully about North Korea the same as I’m not going to trust actual BBC to report truthfully about Britain. States are gonna state.
The video you linked is a fun watch, but it also starts from a pov assuming that I automatically believe what corporate and state media in the imperial core has told me about the DPRK and I already don’t. The first 10 minutes are just talking about the U.S. media talking about NK, then there’s less than 1min of footage actually in North Korea, the majority of which is just b-roll, and not a single interview with a Korean, then the rest of the video is just a pretty good discussion about why the kinds of things western countries do and the kinds of things that the DPRK does are just the kinds of things that countries do. Which again, I agree with all of that, but a good discussion.
What I’m not seeing is any kind of actual North Korean talking about their daily lives, or things they like or dislike about where they live, ways they want to participate, the people in their lives they love, or anything else really.
Why would you put a capitalist state and socialist state at the same level? The state is not outside class struggle, but is a product of class struggle, meaning it has a definite class character.
I’m just looking for good news sources dude. Nobody seems to be able to provide that
KCNA is a good news source IMO, as are sites like DPRKToday. They don’t fulfill your requirements for independence, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t good sources for understanding the DPRK.
Are there NO news agencies in DPRK that challenge authority? I feel like that’s one of the most important things that journalism can do in a society, and without that there really isn’t any journalism. Can you provide me with one of those sources so I can properly contrast with KCNA?
What do you mean by “challenging authority?” Do you mean critiquing government policy? If so, that’s already a part of the DPRK’s government process. You have a very strange idea of what journalism needs to be. Rodong Sinmun is the WPK’s newspaper, whereas KCNA is the government’s.
Critiquing government policy, generally freely expressing grievances about the ruling class, etc. Yeah, pretty much that. I don’t think it’s strange for me to assume that journalism should exist as a non-governmental entity meant to keep authority in check. Otherwise it’s just disseminating government propaganda which is something we should be wary in any system. Thank you for being helpful and giving me resources. I didn’t even know these resources existed, and I feel like if some of your peers would come off as genuinely helpful (as you have) rather than gate-keepy and condescending, then ya’ll would probably have a different reputation around these parts. Thank you, comrade.
Being a non-government entity does not mean it isn’t propaganda. Propaganda isn’t even inherently incorrect, it’s information conveyed with a purpose. As I said, Rodong Sinmun is the WPK’s news, so not the same as the government. KCNA is not the WPK. These are different entities, run by different people. The reason I point out that I think your wish for fully independent media is strange is because it’s not necessarily good for transparency and pushback against potentially unpopular policy. The correct ideas do not win out in the “marketplace of ideas.” Criticism and self-criticism are already fundamental to socialist practice, and the DPRK already has democratically run institutions with more distributed power than, for example, the US.
I didn’t say any of this stuff except the word “propaganda” I was thanking you for the resources. This is what I was trying to politely convey to you though. Maybe don’t turn everything into an argument, you know? I have no idea why you assume I’m some kind of “marketplace of ideas guy” when I’ve been dropping hints all over the place that I’m an anarchist.