Collectivism in news reporting on a disaster: An analysis of straight news,analytical,and opinion articles in conservative and liberal newspapers in South Korea
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online December, 2025
Collectivism in news reporting on a disaster: An analysis of straight news,analytical,and opinion articles in conservative and liberal newspapers in South Korea
This research examines whether the strong collectivism of Korean culture is reflected in newspaper coverage of the Sewol Ferry disaster. It is investigated whether collectivist news reporting is more prevalent than individualistic reporting in discussions of the disaster’s causal structure, predictability, and societal versus individual-level causes and solutions. The strong collectivism manifested more prominently in opinion articles than in straight news or analytical articles. Ideological leanings of newspapers did not interact with the collectivist-individualistic cultural framework.
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