News organisational culture and crisis of journalism in the internet environment : the development of newspaper specialism in Korean journalism

This study intends to explore how news organisational culture in Korean journalism deals with new policies introduced in an effort to resolve current problems. It aims to identify how the established news organisational culture of Korean newspaper journalism relates to the specialist journalism that news organisations are introducing in order to deal with such problems as journalists' job prospects and Internet challenges.;This study posits three research questions: "Why do news organisations intend to introduce specialism?"; "What does specialism have to do with news organisational culture?" and "Is specialism effective in providing 'better journalism'?" This study conducts four pieces of field research: 26 in-depth interviews, two focus group discussions, a survey, and a brief content analysis. This study finds that specialism is a strategic choice which is arbitrarily adapted for problem-solving rather than an established culture. Secondly, specialism reveals some significant conflicts between specialists and generalist reporters regarding personnel management policies and the routines of news production. Accordingly, specialism is considerably restricted by the news organisational culture. Lastly, specialism does not necessarily provide better journalism, especially in terms of supplying mobilising information to guide audiences out of their grievances caused by government's mishandling of public policies.;The current news organisational routines of Korean newspapers is related more closely to resisting changes rather than bridging the individuals of news organisations with newly emerging environments, and these routines do not provide effective systems for the newsgathering activities of specialist reporters.