hankyoreh

The Hankyoreh’s office building in Mapo District, Seoul. (Kim Myoung-jin/The Hankyoreh)

The Hankyoreh is the most trusted newspaper in Korea, according to a survey published on Thursday.

In this year’s survey of Korean media credibility, which current events magazine SisaIN carried out on Aug. 19-21 on the 15th anniversary of its establishment, 14.2% of people surveyed identified the Hankyoreh as the Korean newspaper they trust the most. That was followed by the Chosun Ilbo (13.3%), the Joongang Ilbo (4.8%), the Dong-A Ilbo (4.6%) and the Kyunghyang Shinmun (4.2%).

The percentage of respondents who were unsure, didn’t answer, or said they don’t have a most-trusted newspaper was 50.9%, a little lower than last year (54.8%).

“Hankyoreh rose 3.9 points from last year’s survey to claim the top spot. The Chosun Ilbo and Joongang Ilbo rose 2.1 and 1.3 points, respectively, while the Dong-A Ilbo dropped by 1.6 points,” SisaIN reported.

The survey also found that Korea’s most-trusted broadcaster is KBS (17.7%). Next in line were MBC (15.3%), JTBC (9.8%) and TV Chosun (8%).

KBC, MBC and JTBC also claimed the first through third spots in most-trusted news media, a category that includes newspapers and broadcasters. Eight of the top 10 media were broadcasters, the only exceptions being the Hankyoreh (ranked No. 7) and the Chosun Ilbo (ranked No. 8).

SisaIN worked with Kstat Research to conduct phone interviews of 1,005 men and women aged 18 and above around the country.

The survey had a response rate of 10.1%, a sample error of plus or minus 3.1 points, and a confidence level of 95%. For more details, readers can refer to the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.

By Choi Sung-jin, staff reporter

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