Blind to Media Economics?

At the end of 2010, Korean incumbent government granted four conservative national dailies the new licenses to operate new cable TV channels. Korean major newspapers had been desperate to win the licenses because they believed that the new broadcasting business will help overcome the recession of newspaper industry and leverage their print dominance to television. They, thus, had competed for the newly-opened cable television ever since 2009, when the government lifted Korea’s traditional cross-ownership ban that had prevented a corporation from owning both newspapers and broadcasting company at the same time.

The government’s decision was made after years of severe nationwide debate, division and cross-industry bickering. The government contended that the deregulation was for producing better contents that would help the Korean media companies strengthen international competitiveness and become global media companies.

However, there had been widespread concern over not only the deleterious effects of the new channels on journalism such as the harm to diversity in public opinion but also the thinly-stretched budgets of advertisers.

Although it was very questionable whether the market could create additional TV advertising spots from advertisers, the government claimed that the new channels would generate enough advertising revenue. However, they have been operating at a loss due to the very low viewer ratings and poor advertising spots. Even though the new channels have greatly lowered their price for advertising spots, they are keeping “drowning in red ink.”

The government and the newspapers really did not know that television advertising is price inelastic? Or, just because of the political thinking, they were blind to media economics? 

This study will explore how the newspapers depicted the new cable TV channels, which show whether and how much they concentrated on media economics perspective regarding their approach to new business model.

<Research Question>

RQ1: What differences, if any, were there in Korean major newspapers’ frames of the new cable TV channels?

RQ2: What differences, if any, were there in Korean major newspapers’ tone of stories about the new cable TV channels?

RQ2a: What differences, if any, were there in Korean major newspapers’ tone of the frame used most frequently?

RQ3: When Korean major newspapers covered the new cable TV channels, what sources did Korean major newspapers mainly depend on?

RQ4: When Korean major newspapers covered the new cable TV channels, to what extent was such coverage based on media economics data?