Journalists’ Perceptions about Truth in Press Reporting, Freedom and Gate-keeping in South Korea

This paper examines journalists’ perceptions about truth in press reporting, freedom and gate-keeping in South Korea. It is based on quantitative and qualitative survey responses from journalists in South Korea. A study of related theories and an assessment of empirical data result in the following findings: firstly, truth in press reporting connects basically to autonomy of the news production; secondly, the media play gate-keeping roles in every process of news production. With regard to journalists’ primary activities, gathering news was the freest process. The peak-stress part for reporters was writing articles. Editing news was the least free process. A notable finding was that autonomy of the editing news process was predominantly less than it was for the processes of gathering news and writing articles. This means that gate-keeping roles were intensively played by managing groups during the news production.