Interview with MBN news reporter Hyebin Park

In an era where the media landscape is rapidly evolving, understanding the intricacies of how major news organizations operate and the challenges they face is crucial. This interview with Hyebin Park, an experienced reporter from MBN, delves into the main activities of the network, the pivotal role of the social affairs department, and the essential skills required for success in journalism. Additionally, we explore the implications of media outlets’ political biases, the shifting news consumption habits of younger generations, and MBN’s strategies to adapt to new media platforms.

Could you introduce the main activities of MBN and the role and key responsibilities of the social affairs department?

MBN broadcasts its main news programs at 7 PM on weekdays and 7:30 PM on weekends. The social affairs department consists of an incident team, which covers the police, and a legal affairs team, which covers the prosecution and courts, producing related articles. I am a reporter on the incident team that covers the police. Our articles are divided into two main categories: incident reports and in-depth articles. The former covers simple incidents such as murder, drugs, fraud, and drunk driving. The latter requires more in-depth investigation. For example, while an incident report provides a simple overview of an event, an in-depth article connects similar cases to identify common issues, emphasizes their severity with statistics, and offers solutions through expert interviews. These in-depth articles can cover a wide range of social issues beyond simple incidents, including environment, education, and welfare.

What are the key skills and competencies necessary for a successful social affairs reporter, and how have you developed these?

Being a social affairs reporter requires a great deal of sociability. You need to have a keen interest in people and society to find good story ideas. This involves persistently making contacts and actively visiting locations in person. Interpersonal skills are crucial because the most important information often comes from people. You need the ability to approach strangers without hesitation and build long-term trust with important sources. It’s essential to be resilient to rejections and to carefully maintain the trust you’ve built. While the ability to write coherent articles improves with time and experience, sociability and interpersonal skills are more directly tied to individual effort.

What are your thoughts on the tendency of Korean media outlets to support or oppose specific political stances, and how does this affect journalistic neutrality?

Since there are no absolute answers in politics, I think it is inevitable for media outlets to support or oppose certain stances based on their values. The important thing is to provide clear and well-researched grounds for their positions. Without this, media can appear to unconditionally support or oppose specific stances, leading to a situation where people either ignore the news altogether or selectively choose news that aligns with their preferences. This could contribute to polarization in Korea and cause the media to inadvertently support fan-based politics.

What are your thoughts on the decline in newspaper and news viewership among younger generations, who increasingly get their information from platforms like YouTube? What efforts do you think traditional media should make to address this issue?

Traditional media must actively utilize new platforms to reach younger generations. However, while the means of delivery can diversify, the core mission should remain unchanged. The media’s role in fulfilling the public’s right to know, holding power accountable, and highlighting social issues should continue. When conveying this via YouTube, which follows a different format from TV, internal discussions on how much to adapt to YouTube’s format are necessary. Currently, traditional TV formats are used for YouTube, leading to decreased engagement and interest from younger audiences.

Can you explain the efforts MBN is making to reach a wider audience through various media platforms?

MBN operates a ‘Digital News Department’ separate from the newsroom. This department selects interesting video clips from existing articles, adds subtitles, and creates separate clips to upload on YouTube and Instagram. Honestly, this approach seems somewhat superficial and doesn’t appear to be very effective. While all news is live-streamed on YouTube, TV broadcasting, which generates advertising revenue, is still considered the most important. Unlike news, entertainment programs have been expanded to be available on OTT services like Netflix. This area is something I believe the management, planning, and PR teams are diligently working on, as frontline reporters are usually too busy writing daily articles to focus on such strategies.

More information of MBN : https://www.mbn.co.kr/news