hankyoreh

citizens posted a message that read

A grassroots protest against companies which have placed their ads in three conservative newspapers, called “ChoJoongDong,” an acronym that refers to the Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo and Dong-a Ilbo, is increasingly gathering strength. The protest was launched on May 27, when an Internet user posted a list of ads in the three newspapers on an Internet site and proposed to “make a call to protest.”

The protest spread among the netizens so quickly due to the attitude of ChoJoongDong’s article dealing with the U.S. beef import agreement. The three conservative newspapers have labeled the candlelight vigils as unsound activities led by leftists.

When the list of advertisers for the “ChoJoongDong” newspapers was posted on an Internet community site of the leading portal Daum Communications, called the “People’s Campaign to Cease Publication of ChoJoongDong at http://cafe.daum.net/stopcjd,” Internet users began pressuring the advertisers by spreading the list around other Web sites.

In addition, Internet users have posted messages on the advertisers’ Web sites or made phone calls to them, calling on them to “stop placing ads in ChoJoongDong.” The number of companies which promise to pull their ads from the three conservative dailies is the on rise. So far, 10 companies have publicly pledged to withdraw their ads from the three dailies.

As the campaign has gained momentum, so has the counterattack by the three newspapers. On June 12, the Chosun Ilbo sent an official letter of warning to a recipe site “82cook.com,” Daum and other portals. On June 18, the Chosun Ilbo carried a full-page article, claiming there were “slanders and threats” (from Internet users) and describing the campaign as a “criminal act being disguised as a consumer movement.” On June 19, the JoongAng Ilbo and the Dong-a Ilbo called the campaign a “faceless terror” and a “threat by some leftist force against advertisers,” respectively.

However, the Internet users have paid little attention to the newspapers’ statements, and their campaign against ads placed in the “ChoJoongDong” is showing no signs of abating.

On the Agora, the discussion site of internet portal Daum, on June 18, the 21st list of advertisers for the “ChoJoongDong” newspapers was posted. The list, dubbed “today’s homework,” included the advertisers’ telephone numbers and Web addresses. “As (potential) consumers who pay ad spending by purchasing goods, our campaign is a fair tool of delivering our message to seek cooperation to stop placing ads in unhealthy media companies,” stated a preface of the list. Behind the list, there are a series of replay messages that Internet users have stopped subscribing to the three newspapers.

Kim Hye-kyung, president of the recipe site “82cook.com” who recently has been warned by the Chosun Ilbo over possible legal action, said, “As the ChoJoongDong shows such attitude without changing their journalistic stance, the movement of our members is becoming more active. Support and encouragement from the members have given it great strength.”

Surveys found the campaign has taken a toll on the three newspapers as they have printed fewer pages than they previously did, apparently hit by a fall in ad sales. According to a survey by the Media Today, the watchdog weekly newpaper on the press, the average number of daily pages of the Chosun Ilbo between June 9 and 17 fell by 20 pages from the same period a year ago to 49 pages. For same the period, the average number of daily pages of the JoongAng Ilbo and the Dong-a Ilbo also declined by 10 pages to 46 pages and 44 pages each.

In another survey by a weekly newspaper published by the Journalist Association of Korea, only one to six big companies put their ads in each of the three newspapers in the past seven days. In May and June last year, an average number of ads from big companies for each of the three newspapers stood at 10 to 20 a day. The “ChoJoongDong” newspapers’ recent ad revenues were believed to have fallen to 40 to 50 percent of their normal levels, according to sources in the advertising industry.

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]