
A Distant Reading of the Korean Central News Agency’s Headlines - benbreen
https://xmarquez.github.io/KCNA/Reading_KCNA_headlines.html
======
graeme
I remember finding KCNA back in high school. Indeed very dull headlines. "NK
Ambassador to obscure country presented with flowers" sort of thing.

Had wondered what happened to it. An interesting tidbit from this article is
that it's now inaccessible outside Japan. I was able to confirm access by
using a VPN.

Here's the URL:
[http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm](http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm)

~~~
eternalban
[https://kcnawatch.co/newstream/269703/minju-joson-points-
out...](https://kcnawatch.co/newstream/269703/minju-joson-points-out-root-
cause-of-escalated-tension-in-northeast-asia/)

    
    
       Why is the regional situation in Northeast Asia being steadily aggravated?
    
       The reason is the scramble for hegemony among powers.
    
       Antagonism between China and the U.S. is the main reason of the aggravated regional tension.
    
    

Doesn't sound like fluff to me. Just a different point of view. Also very
interesting how it puts US and China on the same footing [as] hegemonic
powers.

~~~
resfirestar
They often republish North Korean analysis of an issue from a newspaper, but
you have to wade through tens of "Kim Jong Un does thing", "Congratulations
[sent to|received from] president of obscure nation", and "Someone celebrating
the life of [Kim Jong Il|Kim Il Sung] headlines to find it. Many of the more
substantive pieces are at
[http://www.rodong.rep.kp/en/index.php?strPageID=SF01_01_02&i...](http://www.rodong.rep.kp/en/index.php?strPageID=SF01_01_02&iMenuID=3).
But websites like NK News exist for those interested in the region, pulling in
information from these unreliable sites, independent sources inside NK, and
western media.

------
mdturnerphys
Glad to see that @DPRK_News [0] got a mention. See [1] for more context.

[0] [https://twitter.com/DPRK_News](https://twitter.com/DPRK_News)

[1] [https://www.popehat.com/2014/12/20/the-curious-case-of-
the-t...](https://www.popehat.com/2014/12/20/the-curious-case-of-the-t-v-
attorney-and-twitter/)

------
rdtsc
> The entire Chongryon-hosted enterprise thus seems almost completely devoid
> of informational and propaganda value today, if it ever had any; it is a
> classic example of “propaganda without readers.” [...] we can try to make
> sense of KCNA stories [...] simply as the nearly automatic manifestation of
> the North Korean state’s own commitments to itself

North Korean propaganda is so obvious and so stupid by our standards that it
seems ridiculous anyone would listen to it, like the article points.

But there is something there for us to learn as well about our propaganda.
which is less obvious. By now I think nobody can pretend that mass media is
unbiased. I think before elections, for some channels one could squint and
give them a benefit of the doubt at least.

The media served as this persuasion machine for many years (unlike the North
Korean site mentioned here). It was never unbiased, but we one could almost
pretend it was. However then something interesting happened when the curtain
was lifted too much. It simply became too obvious and impossible to ignore.
They went and started unilaterally backing only one candidate in the
elections, hired operatives from their party, anchors donated large sums of
money to that candidate, passed debate notes back and forth, etc. As a result
even traditional large media empires found themselves regarded pretty much as
the North Korean propaganda by the majority of the population.

You'd think they realize and stop. But they didn't and I claim they won't.
That is what is fascinating, they keep marching on further and further. In a
sense just like this site, the people writing there keep pumping those
headlines even though the world is laughing at them. You'd think for example
Chris Cuomo from CNN would sort of have this apology and say the whole
"documents are illegal for you to read, but is different for the media, come
to use for interpretation" was a dumb thing to say and how it made the whole
channel look silly and so on. But he didn't and never will. And it makes more
sense in the light of this article, this kind of propaganda is largely
literature aimed not at persuasion but at reassurance of those who already
believe and mostly also as literature and signaling among the media creators
themselves. What the outside world thinks, doesn't matter anymore.

~~~
resfirestar
You're missing a big difference between biased news and authoritarian
propaganda: independence from the government itself. This has all sorts of
consequences, but one is the type of stories that can appear. North Korea's
news is an extreme example of being laser-focused on inane activities of the
leader and routine diplomacy, to the complete exclusion of anything about the
daily life of civilians. Many people trust the political reporting on
broadcast news about as much as they trust KCNA's take on US politics, but
non-Alex Jones fans don't think they're covering it up when bad things happen,
or that they pull punches on generally apolitical incidents of public or
corporate malfeasance. Look at the headlines this week: lots of stuff about
the Oroville Dam. In North Korea, public infrastructure issues like that would
be completely blacked out to avoid embarrassing the government. My impression
of the Chinese press is that it would be reported without criticizing
officials for ignoring the dam's weaknesses. Even if people continue
retreating into Facebook's bubbles for political news, non-political reporting
by western mass media will continue to be widely read and trusted, while the
purely political mission of authoritarian state media dooms it to the inanity
of KCNA.

~~~
paradite
You got the wrong impression about Chinese politics and the press. If a dam
fails, officials responsible for it would be sacked immediately before getting
a chance to resign and the news will be reported.

However if it's just "weakness" in dam, I don't think news media would be too
quick to criticize officials, regardless of the country. It's not a disaster
yet.

~~~
resfirestar
You're probably right, I'm thinking more of China historically, when it was
much more authoritarian. The Soviet Union would have been a better example,
with their tendency to delay reporting or cover up famines and nuclear
accidents.

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kalleboo
With the uninteresting content and the site being blocked outside of Japan, I
wonder if the point of the site is just to serve the North Korean loyalist
schools in Japan
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongryon#Korean_schools](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongryon#Korean_schools)

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rdlecler1
It could be maintained to send Korean spies encrypted messages.

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eternalban
[https://kcnawatch.co/](https://kcnawatch.co/)

