By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
Anti-U.S. beef import protests offer a glimpse of what the future may hold for mass communication and journalism.
Alongside Korean television broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS, numerous Internet journalists were using digital video recorders attached to their wireless laptops and broadcast the candlelit ``vigils'' on the Web in real time.
At the marathon 72-hour protest that started Thursday night in Seoul, an Internet reporting team from ``Ohmynews'' was filing news and broadcasting live images. There were also Internet journalists from ``People's Voice'' and ``Color TV'' among others. Also countless protesters used video recorders on their cell phones to upload images to the Web.
A journalist from ``Ohmynews'' said the public's response to the live broadcasting was ``explosive.''
``We've been covering candlelit vigils since the beginning, about a month ago,'' according to the journalist, whose team included reporters, producers and an Internet video director.
``We've been broadcasting these events live via the Internet. We will continue to broadcast them live and uninterrupted. Our Web traffic has been incredible, just explosive.''
He observed that a lot of Koreans have been turning to the Web to see the candlelight protests live. ``Usually, these events start at around 7 p.m. and we broadcast them throughout the night. For this 72-hour marathon, we will continue to broadcast live for all 72 hours. Today, we started broadcasting early in the evening. We also filed reports online in the afternoon. We dispatched reporters all day.''
The Ohmynews journalist noted that in Korea, ``traditional newspapers have been dominant, but recently people have discovered that there are some things that only Internet news outlets can offer.''
He said: ``We can broadcast events, like these candlelight demonstrations, live on the Web, and without any interruption or editorial bent. This is not something traditional media can do.''
``We can use the Internet to deliver news and information as it happens and without any alterations,'' he said. ``So Korean people have been developing a sense of trust in Internet news. That's helping even more people to tune into Internet news. That, in turn, is giving Internet news a stronger voice and influence in Korea. And when important events like these take place, more people tune into Internet news.''
Internet news operations can also make a financial sense. ``In our case, we finance our news operation by online donations and subscriptions.'' Ohmynews has reportedly received more than 100 million won in the past eight days while covering the candlelit protests.