Written by Student Ambassador Hyo-jin Lee (College of Business Administration, Matriculating Year of 2021)

1. Please introduce yourself.

I have spent 35 years in the field of journalism since I became a reporter for a newspaper in 1989. I became an executive last year, so my executive experience is shorter than my life as a journalist, which was considerably longer. Broadcasting channels comprise various divisions that encompass news, current affairs and cultural programs, drama, entertainment, radio, and management. I worked in the news division for over three decades, but now that I am a CEO, my role is to look across various fields and strategize for the future. In a way, the very nature of my work has changed. While my work habits as a reporter, which have been ingrained in me for thirty years, and the role as the CEO of a media content group are complementary, there are many cases in which I have to think and strategize differently.



2. What inspired you to choose a career in journalism?

I did not want to become a journalist when I entered the College of Business Administration in 1982. If that had been the case, I would not have chosen to major in business administration. I decided to study business administration because of the vague notion that business administration is a practical field, and that the future of Korea will be created by companies, but I had a change of heart in my fourth year. I began to consider whether there would be a field where I could contribute more to society and decided that journalism might be a good field for that. Unlike these days, information was only accessible to a few people in the 1980s, and many had to rely on unverified, hearsay information. Considering that it was an era with such a social thirst and demand, I found the social role of delivering the truth that people want to know, that is, being a truth teller, very appealing. That was the starting point of my dream of becoming a journalist. Fortunately, I passed the test for becoming a journalist on my first attempt.


3. You switched from being a newspaper reporter to a broadcast reporter after three years. What were your reasons for that decision?

In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, and the Gulf War broke out while I was working as a newspaper reporter. The Gulf War was the first war to be broadcast live on television, and this was when CNN, a formerly less-known broadcasting channel, garnered attention. As I witnessed this trend in the news, I began to think that the focus of journalism in Korea might transition from newspapers to broadcast channels. That was when SBS was launched, and I transitioned my career from the newspaper industry to the broadcast industry. Then, I thought I had made my own choice, but looking back, becoming a journalist and starting to work for SBS all seem to have been a part of a divine arrangement. It might have been fate.



4. What are the professional characteristics of reporters and journalists?

One of the greatest characteristics and strengths of being a journalist is that you gain a broader perspective of the world. In terms of expertise, it would be impossible for journalists to know more about specific fields than experts. If some journalists argue that they know more and, in more depth than experts, they would be lying. Instead of being more profound, journalists have a broader perspective. They also have the ability to simplify issues, as they are trained to summarize complicated situations into a short article. Once you repeat that process for decades, it becomes easier to simplify complex problems and set up priorities. You also get a comprehensive view of the whole rather than the small things and a broader perspective that allows you to read the trends of the times from a few common issues. This is why articles written by journalists tend to be accepted as the story of our world written in everyday words. After repeating this training for several decades, you develop the eye and ability to tease out the trends throughout time.


5. Do you have any specific examples of that or any meaningful experience?

My experience as a correspondent in Tokyo was indeed a meaningful experience. I worked as the Tokyo correspondent from 2001 to 2004 after completing an overseas training program at Keio University in 2000. Then, the most significant social issue in Japan was the low birth rate. On the other hand, the population-related issue in Korea remained to be the imbalance in the gender ratio. It was a time when there was a strong preference for sons, so some parents would give birth to boys and get abortions when the baby was a girl. It was a time when the custom of discriminating daughters-in-law who failed to give birth to boys persisted. I was shocked to learn that the low birth rate was a common agenda in Japan when Korean newspapers were writing articles titled "Complaints from an Elementary School Boy: I'm Pairs with a Boy Instead of a Girl." In Korea, the low birth rate was not even a social issue, let alone a serious government concern. After witnessing the biggest issues in Japan, which were the low birthrate and aging, I realized that these problems would soon become our issues. After returning to Korea, I proposed to the managers at the news desk that the low birth rate should also be our national agenda, and successfully added the low birth rate as an official agenda in the Seoul Digital Forum, which is SBS's future agenda forum, and our Future Korea Report. I think we were the first Korean media outlet to do that. Other meaningful experiences include becoming the secretary-general of the Kwanhoon Club in 2019, where I was able to discuss the present and future of journalism with experienced journalists, serving as the editor for the Seoul National University alumni newspaper, and being a member of the social responsibility committee at the SNU Alumni Association. These were all valuable experiences that were made possible by being a journalist.


6. What kind of TV programs and broadcasting channels do you want to create?

SBS is a news organization as well as a media content group. As a news organization, it has the responsibility to contribute to society with good journalism, and as a media content company, it has the responsibility to provide entertaining and touching content to its viewers. The company slogans of SBS are "A good broadcast leads to a good society" and "Creating a better society with good content." For good journalism, we updated our journalism code of conduct this year to keep up with the changes in time. In this era of fake news, we share the foundations of high-quality journalism, with its four pillars of accuracy, objectivity, restraint, and balance. TV dramas and variety shows are not only broadcast but shared on all platforms and are consumed not only domestically but internationally. It is a pleasure to witness global viewers encounter our culture through K-drama and K-pop. I can feel that South Korea is exporting its soft power and getting one step closer to the center of the world. The roles and responsibilities of a news organization and media content group are all important. Providing strong-rooted journalism and becoming a global media content company are our survival strategies as well as future vision.


7. How did studying business administration help you as a journalist?

Practicality helps. Business administration is often called a practical field, meaning that it is not biased. Only when you are unprejudiced can you distinguish facts from arguments, beliefs from confirmation bias, and general truths from small fragments. Journalistic writing is fundamentally different from literary writing. It is crucial to identify evidence and articulate proper answers to questions instead of using fancy and elegant words. Business management also has various sub-fields, such as accounting, finance, human resources, organizational management, innovation strategy, and management policy. While business management and journalism may seem very different, the tasks overlap more than you would expect. I think that is why, despite the small number, journalists with business administration backgrounds are playing more prominent roles in the journalism field as a whole.


8. Do you have any advice for students who aspire to work as journalists and SNU Business School students?

Mentors or life consultants often say, "Do what you love." I want to say something different. While it is important to do what you love, I would like to tell you to "Do what you are good at." What you love might change continuously, while what you are good at stays consistent. Unfortunately, most of us enter university without enough guidance from our school curriculum to discover our talents. And, in most cases, we decide our future after graduation in that very state. I advise college students to try experiencing everything. I hope you have plenty of experience to understand what you truly love and are good at and consider whether what you like could be sustainable, why you are talented in doing some things, and whether you have any undiscovered talents. I believe your future options will be clearer once you carefully consider your talents and areas where you can excel.