국내 일간지에 게재된 대체의학 관련기사 연구

Abstract

As newspapers among mass media give higher satisfaction to the public, what is dealt with in them has an important effect on the public. This is a function of the press which emphasizes specific issues and provokes debates from the public. To identify how newspapers from which the public obtain information on health reports the alternative medicine, this study presents the following questions:

1) How does Korean newspapers define the alternative medicine ?

2) What contents do the articles on alternative medicine deal with ?

3) With what attitude do the Korean newspapers report on alternative medicine ?

This study analyses the articles on complementary alternative and integrated medicine through home-pages of the four newspapers of Kyunghyang, Donga, Chosun and Hankyoreh from January 1, 2001 to October 30, 2007. It deals with a total of 100 articles as follows: 37 articles of Kyunghyang Newspaper, 18 of Dongailbo, 25 of Chosunilbo, and 20 of Hankyoreh. They are categorized into three types of articles and each analysis focuses on the contents of the articles. As a result, a common thing from the four newspapers is that the amount of articles on complementary, alternative and integrated medicine is not satisfying. It indicates that the alternative medicine in our society is not a main subject for discussion. It is considered as a minor medicine to which people do not trust it and are very careful in dealing with it as a topic.

Our newspapers once reported that the alternative medicine is an integrated medicine that can be used under the direction by doctors or medical experts in scientifically demonstrated fields. In particular, Dongailbo dealt with it very actively.

The articles on the alternative medicine introduced only cases of foreign countries and report it within very limited range. Except Dongailbo, the three newspapers provided space only to the alternative medicine experts rather than reporters of the newspapers or introduced only foreign cases, not to show their own viewpoints on it. The reporting attitude by Korean newspapers on alternative medicine is adhere to critical attitude in neutral position.