1	Patriotic Passion and the ‘Sublime’ Science: Un-searching for Journalistic Truths Presented to the Conference, “Trust and Ethics in Investigative Television Journalism, Institute of Communication Research, Seoul National University, March 29^th, 2006 MyungKoo Kang, NakHo Kim, HakJae Kim & SungMin Lee
2	Introduction Characteristics of the stem cell fraud Complex implications: multi-layered composition of political, economical and cultural aspects The role of journalism: Key actor in the whole process Questions A oppressive system to un-search journalistic truth: Korean journalism choosing national interest, and neglecting/oppressing journalistic truth-seeking “How and why did this temporary discourse oppressing system take place?”
3	Analysis Methods Research material Time span (“The oppressive phase”) : 2005. 11. 14.(Schatten incident) – 12. 15. (SNU investigation) Major discourse texts of both on/offline Major daily newspapers and key internet discussion spaces Narrative approach: Focusing on contexts, rather than simply texts themselves Theoretical frame Base: “governmentality of biopolitics” as the dominating mentality Journalistic practice: discursive contexts and strategies Rupture: the mechanism of the discursive rupture
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5	Governmentality of Biopolitics The concept Elements of voluntariness Conjugation of multiple layers Co-functioning of system, institution, mentality, knowledge and structure Power effects to form certain identities and behavior “Sublime” expertise Episteme of regime: conceptual frame to uncover the oppressive discursive system “Regime of Truth” : Producing vast conformity through faith in truth
6	Governmentality of Biopolitics(Cont) Political crisis and the ‘National Scientist' Political crisis of the Roh administration gets commonplace The gap between the political system and general public widens; media image politics and nationalistic opinion making fills in Sponsors of the “scientist hero” Most of the key political actors Symbolic value Scientists becoming power elites
7	Governmentality of Biopolitics(Cont) Bio-industry, Industrial development, policies Science regime developmentalism, authoritan Began already in the 1960’s Science policies of Roh administration 2005: Aiming for ‘Top 8 Science technology country’) Selected Bio-industry as second “growth engine” Developed into a nationalistic developmentalist ideology
8	Governmentality of Biopolitics(Cont) Developmentalism Mentalities Definition of mentalities A system of thought and behavior patterns constructed over a long duration of time Developmentalism Mentalities”: “Let’s live well!” The One-wey strive to growth The question of “Why” and “how” absent Reasonable individualism and communitarian values based on rights and responsibilities absent Patterns in the stem cell fraud Korean nationalism as base of national pride Putting emphasis on goal rather than building methods and processes Strong competition for becoming superior and “World’s No.1”
9	Journalistic Practice as Oppressive Systems for Truth-searching Regime of truth: How it reigned Normally, all scientific achievements are placed in the sphere of legitimate controversy However, journalism practices forced them into a “Taboo sphere”, based on imagined consensus Moreover, journalism forced journalistic truth-seeking itself into controversy (e.g. the case of ‘PD Diary’) Need to look into the discursive strategies and the contextual conditions of Korean journalism
10	Jornalistic Practice: Discourse Strategies Situation Ethics Over-implementation of relativity: Justifying absence of ethics Overusing relativity of ethics, thus making consistent debates impossible Situation ethics of egg obtainment Discursive countering of ethical violations: Replacing ethical standards with legal ones, emphasizing the uniqueness of “Korean context” Situation ethics of Journalistic misdeeds Unequal implementation Over-implementing PD Diary’s ethical violation in the interview process to the truth-seeking process itself Hiding/ignoring ethical violations (false reports, privacy intrusions, tailored reporting) of pro-Hwang media
11	Jornalistic Practice: Discourse Strategies (cont) ‘Sublime’ science ‘Science’ journal as the unquestionable authority “Journalists cannot prove science” Passion and dilligence: “MTWTFFF” Science as savior: serving miracle to patients =>Active discourse construction The “blasphemy” of debate Framing controversy and debates as a challenge to the sublimity (Paradox: Scientific expertise also acted as an important element in building of counter discourses as well)
12	Jornalistic Practice: Discourse Strategies (cont) Patriotic passion for national interest National Interest ideology: Key feature of oppressive discourse Provides imagined firm guide to situation ethics Provides reason for pursuing ‘sublime’ science Dimensions of national interest Emotional: non-debatable Economical: also non-debatable, because no concrete data ever existed Inventing ‘Enemies’ Internal enemies: PD Diary, whistleblower, ex-research staff etc External enemies: Framing Bio science as “Korea vs rest of the world”
13	Jornalistic Practice: Contextual Conditions Symbiotic Journalist and source relationship Source-Journalist ‘Absorbed relationship’: Unfiltered reporting of Hwang lab personnel as given facts, thus overstepping the process of factual confirmation. => blocking legitimate debate Conditions: 1) human network management of the specialized few, 2) ‘Invitation Journalism’ Journalist-Source Voluntary conformation to obtain easy access to newsworthy material Reminding journalism to stay true to national interest (e.g. the embargo incident in 2004) Results: Uniformity of viewpoints, seemingly expert support, non-aggression
14	Jornalistic Practice: Contextual Conditions (cont) Complex structure of news routes Indirect function: discursively justifying the blind support for Hwang as ‘good’ Various news distribution routes, excessive numbers Overlapping news distribution of news agencies and media companies, internet access to archived newspaper, radio, TV and internet specific news, cross-referencing between media, etc. Too many news, similar (if not same) contents: Intensified by the reporting pattern of real-time newsflash Constructs a climate of dominant discourse The blurring of media and personal discourse climates Especially in the Internet, news enters actively personal communication spaces such as discussion boards, blogs etc. Active and over-generalized feedback of ‘public opinion’ into the news reports via polls
15	The Process of Rupture Conditions for successful persuasiveness Proof of violation: Concrete proof that the specific social or professional rule has been violated Assessment of Damage: Proof that the problem which results from the violation of rules brings about concrete and significant damage => Only when BOTH are presented, do the rupture-evoking debates gain discursive power Process of Rupture Segments: 1) Before the crisis / 2) Report of the egg donor issue (transitional incident) / 3) Disclosure of PD Diary’s fraud investigation (Conditions for rupture) / 4) Emergence of counter discourse
16	The Process of Rupture(Cont)
17	The Process of Rupture(Cont)
18	The Process of Rupture(Cont) Emergence of Counter-Rupture Discourse Conditions After rupture, the oppressive system loses dominance: start of debate Sought to apply a quasi-scientific approach to counter rupture Limitations Relied on assumptions and conspiracies, due to lack of concrete proof The Communication Characteristics Rupture discourse: 1) open participation, 2) collective gathering of new proof, 3) articulating discourse through both expert and general public communication routes Counter-rupture discourse: 1) required conformity, 2) reasserting of previous viewpoints, 3) Relied on general public routes but diddn’t make it into the communication routes of experts, thus failing to effect actual policy decisions Functioned as a form of ‘public opinion’, but couldn’t counter the rupture
19	Conclusion