"KOREAN BLOGGERS MAKING A DIFFERENCE"... CNN ON OHMYNEWS

HatTip to Rich, Joe, and Valerie who all sent me an email link to this article. Interesting that CNN picked up a story on OhMyNews, which was the first citizen journalism site in the world and helped Roh Moo-Hyun get elected as president. I'm not happy about the latter, but the former achievement of creating this new breed of journalism by Oh Yeon Ho is pretty cool.

The English version of the site actually has posted a couple of my articles reprinted from AlwaysOn, which I posted before. Todd, the editor for the English version, was nice enough to feature them in their technology section. I'm actually working on an article just for them, which I hope to finish within the week as long as my friend gets back to me with some necessary information (dude, hurry up!).

Korean bloggers making a difference

by Kristie Lu Stout
Thursday, March 31, 2005

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- It's a typical newsroom in downtown Seoul: reporters rush to meet deadlines and editors eye copy for mistakes.

But in this newsroom, some of the stories are being filed from a lingerie shop.

Just outside Seoul, lingerie shopkeeper Lee Eun Wha is preparing for a winter sale, but when there's free time, she hits the keyboard and begins working as a budding "citizen reporter" for Internet media site "Ohmynews."

The Web site is paving the way for a new kind of journalism in South Korea, where every reader can be a reporter and the establishment is being forced to take notice.

One of Lee's most recent stories, about hardships of small business owners, made a difference, she says.

"The public wasn't aware that small business owners were suffering so badly. But after my article went out, people were able to really see that small business owners were having difficulty just making ends meet," says Lee.

Lee has earned $5,000 from her work as a citizen reporter, but she says she is not in it for the money.

"By writing, I've been able to look more closely at my own surroundings and take a more proactive view of things."

"Ohmynews" draws half a million visitors a day -- most are young and male, but nearly all are tech-savvy Koreans out to challenge the elite. (full article)