Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2025-12
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.
AndersonB. (1983). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Verso.
2.
BedfordO.HwangK. K. (2003). Guilt and shame in Chinese culture: A cross-cultural framework from the perspective of morality and identity. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 33(2), 127–144. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5914.00210
3.
BuddM.CraigS.SteinmanC. (1999). Consuming environment: Television and commercial culture. Rutgers University Press.
4.
CareyM. C. (2017). The news untold: Community journalism and the failure to confront poverty in Appalachia. West Virginia University Press.
5.
ChaJ. H.NamK. D. (1985). A test of Kelley’s cube theory of attribution: A cross-cultural replication of McArthur’s study. Korean Social Science Journal, 12, 151–180.
6.
ChoiI.NisbettR. E.NorenzayanA. (1999). Causal attribution across cultures: Variation and universality. Psychological Bulletin, 125(1), 47–63. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.125.1.47
7.
DeuzeM. (2005). What is journalism? Professional identity and ideology of journalists reconsidered. Journalism, 64(4), 442–464. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884905056815
8.
FiskeJ. (1998). Culture, ideology and interpellation. In RivkinJ.RyanM. (Eds.), Literary theory, an anthology (pp. 305–311). Blackwell.
9.
GitlinT. (1983). Inside prime time. Pantheon Books.
10.
GraneyJ. M. (1990). Determination of fact and opinion: A critical reading problem. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 19, 147–166. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01077414
11.
HanitzschT.HanuschF.MelladoC.AnikinaM.BerganzaR.CangozI.Kee Wang YuenE. (2011). Mapping journalism cultures across nations: A comparative study of 18 countries. Journalism Studies, 12(3), 273–293. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2010.512502
12.
HanitzschT.VosT. P. (2017). Journalistic roles and the struggle over institutional identity: The discursive constitution of journalism. Communication Theory, 27(2), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1111/comt.12112
13.
HeoM.LeeW. (2023). Rethinking Asian values in journalism: The case of the pressroom in the South Korean presidential office. Asian Journal of Communication, 335(5), 433–451. https://doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2023.2239258
14.
HofstedeG. (1984). The cultural relativity of the quality of life concept. Academy of Management Review, 9(3), 389–398. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.1984.4279653
15.
Homer-DixonT.MaynardJ. L.MildenbergerM.MilkoreitM.MockS. J.QuilleyS.SchröderT.ThagardP. (2013). A complex systems approach to the study of ideology: Cognitive-affective structures and the dynamics of belief systems. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 1(1), 337–363. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v1i1.36
16.
IyengarS. (1991). Is anyone responsible?University of Chicago Press.
KangS. (2020). Critical discourse analysis about nuclear power phase-out policy focusing on the cases of the Chosun Ilbo and the Hankyoreh. Locality & Communication, 47(3), 147–183.
19.
KensickiL. J. (2004). No cure for what ails us: The media-constructed disconnect between societal problems and possible solutions. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 81(1), 53–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900408100105
KimS. (2014). Confucian democracy in East Asia: Theory and practice. Cambridge University Press.
22.
KimS.-H. (2015). Who is responsible for a social problem? News framing and attribution of responsibility. Virtual Theme Collection. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 92(3), 554–558. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699015591956
23.
KimS.-H.CarvalhoJ. P.DavisA. G. (2010). Talking about poverty: News framing of who is responsible for causing and fixing the problem. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 87, 563–581. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769901008700308
24.
KimS. H.TannerA. H.KimS. Y.FosterC.OhS. H.ChangJ. H. (2017). News focuses on individuals for rising health care costs. Newspaper Research Journal, 38(3), 293–305. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739532917722975
25.
KimY. S.KellyJ. D. (2008). A matter of culture: A comparative study of photojournalism in American and Korean newspaper. International Communication Gazette, 70(2), 155–173. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048507086910
26.
LeeE.JungW. (2008). A Comparison of front-page stories in Korean and U.S. newspapers:An analysis of depth by source appearance by coverage area and reporting form. Korean Journal of Journalism & Communication, 52(4), 25–49.
27.
LeeM. (2015). Investigating the effects of episodic vs. thematic framing of social problems on cognitive & emotional response of the adolescent recipients. Theory and Research in Citizenship Education, 47(3), 147–183.
28.
LeeS. H.NohJ. W.KimK. B.ShinB. R.ChaeJ. H. (2024). Suicidality amon bereaved families after the Sewol Ferry disaster: A longitudinal study. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 30(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/15325024.2024.2367644
29.
LeeW. (2023). Cultural differences and journalists’ thinking bias: An analysis of Korean and American newspaper articles on the ‘Mark Lippert Ambassador to the United States’ Incident’. Journal of Speech, Media and Communication Research, 22(2), 269–306.
30.
LomasT.Diego-RosellP.ShibaK.StandridgeP.LeeM. T.CaseB.LaiA. Y.VanderWeeleT. J. (2023). Complexifying individualism versus collectivism and West versus East: Exploring global diversity in perspectives on self and other in the Gallup World Poll. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 54(1), 61–89. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221221130978
31.
MadduxW. W.YukiM. (2006). The “ripple effect”: Cultural differences in perceptions ofthe consequences of events. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(5), 669–683. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167205283840
32.
MarkusH. R.KitayamaS. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224–253. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.98.2.224
33.
MastinT.ChoiJ.BarbozaG. E.PostL. (2007). Newspapers’ framing of elder abuse: It’snot a family affair. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 84(4), 777–794. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900708400408
MenonT.MorrisM. W.ChiuC. Y.HongY. Y. (1999). Culture and the construal ofagency: Attribution to individual versus group dispositions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(5), 701–717. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-3514.76.5.701
36.
MoonY. E.LewisS. C. (2024). Social media as commodifier or homogenizer? Journalists’ social media use in individualistic and collectivist cultures and its implications for epistemologies of news production. Digital Journalism, 13, 584–603. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2024.2303988
37.
MorlingB.LamoreauxM. (2008). Measuring culture outside the head: A meta-analysis of individualism—Collectivism in cultural products. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 12(3), 199–221. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868308318260
38.
MorrisM. W.PengK. (1994). Culture and cause: American and Chinese attributions forsocial and physical events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(6), 949–971. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-3514.67.6.949
39.
NahH.CraftS. (2019). Unpublishing the news: An analysis of U.S. and South Korean Journalists’ discourse about an emerging practice. International Journal of Communication, 13, 2575–2595.
NusratJ.RazibM. H. (2023). Child abusing news: Episodic and thematic media framing adapting the children act and UNICEF’s principles in Bangladesh. Athens Journal of Mass Media and Communication, 92(2), 113–130. https://doi.org/10.30958/ajmmc.9-2-3
42.
OysermanD.CoonH. M.KemmelmeierM. (2002). Rethinking individualism and collectivism: Evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses. Psychological Bulletin, 128(1), 3–72. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0033-2909.128.1.3
43.
ParkJ. Y.LeeW. S.RohS. (2009). The culture-induced cognitive differences between Korean and U.S. op-ed writers. Korean Journal of Journalism & Communication, 53(5), 268–290.
SchimmackU.OishiS.DienerE. (2005). Individualism: A valid and important dimension of cultural differences between nations. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 9(1), 17–31. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0901_2
46.
ShoemakerP. J.ReeseS. D. (1996). Mediating the message: Theories of influences on mass media content. Longman.
47.
StockingS. H.GrossP. H. (1992). How do journalists think? A proposal for the study of cognitive bias in newsmaking. Canadian Journal of Communication, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.22230/cjc.1992v17n1a654
48.
Van MeursN.CoenS.BullP. (2021). Ideology and culture. In CoenS.BellP. (Eds.), Psychology of journalism (pp. 200–235). Oxford University Press.
49.
WallackL.DorfmanL.JerniganD.ThembaM. (1993). Media advocacy and publichealth: Power for prevention. Sage.
50.
ZhongB.NewhagenJ. E. (2009). How journalists think while they write: A transcultural model of news decision making. Journal of Communication, 59(3), 587–608. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2009.01439.x
