Episode 4: Political Manipulation through Media

Synopsis

Word about Si-mok's past violent behavior quickly spreads out on social media. Unconcerned about it, Si-mok persists on investigating focuses his attention on his suspicions on Eun-soo.

He surmises with Yeo-jin that the deaths of both victim and convict may have been part of larger scheme.

Si -ok becomes suspicious of Dong-jae's proclivities, and follows him around the city.

He later discovers that Dong-jae has been pursuing an underage female escort who is later found left-for-dead inside the house where the primary victim was murdered.

(Stranger, Wikipedia)

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Discussion

Since South Korea has started to become a democratic country, media have always been intertwined with political situations, regardless of whether is is for the good or the worse. Politicians could manipulate media; for instance, Kwak stated that until up to 1987, "various forms of control were deployed which aimed to silence and/or tame the media" (2012, 4). Many newspapers would be banned from speaking the truth, and they were forced to deceive the people of South Korea by putting lies in the newspapers. In cases of broadcast media, these were "under the control of the government from the beginning" (Ibid., 13) and just like the newspapers, broadcast media could not always depict what was actually happening in society.

As the use of the internet became more common from the early 1990s, the global network population has now increased up to the low billions (Shirky 2011, 28). Interestingly enough, manipulation exists on the internet, just like traditional media. The same-if not more-amount of deception goes on, and because news on the internet spreads fast, it it easy for people to be influenced instantly.

In Strangers, the manipulation of media and its importance can been seen throughout the drama.

For example, there is a scene in episode 3 where Chang-joon's father-in-law Lee Yoon-beom says that public can change from praising Si-mok to criticizing him in a heartbeat, and this shows just how fast and strong the media can impact people.

In Korea, there is a term called "언론 플레이", a Korean+English term where people combine the word media(언론) with play(플레이). This is commonly used when people (politicians or celebrities, or even the newspapers themselves) literally "play the media", deliberately showing or telling the media false or exaggerated information for their own benefit.

In episode 4, such "media play" can be seen when Chang-joon pledges in front of his workers and press journalists to find the real culprit. Although this is not his initial plan, he pretends it is to give the public a good impression and to counteract what Si-mok did in the previous episode. On the Internet, you can see that he is getting reactions immediately from the public, and this was Chang-joon's intention from the very beginning.

I believe that the media can be harmful in terms of spreading accurate information because it is easy for people to take advantage of it, just like Chang-joon did in episode 4. Moreover, I think the Internet is the easiest out of all media to manipulate the crowd due to its capability to trigger instant reactions of the public. Compared to other media, the Internet has high accessibility for everyone and less authority is required for people when they wish to write any kind of information (this is why in episode 4, Si-mok's middle school college is able to post an explanation of Si-mok breaking his fingers, insisting that he is not a psycho). The Internet's advantage of being quick and easy can also work as a disadvantage when it comes to manipulating the crowd in terms of politics.

(word count: 491)

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Questions

1. Do you think the Internet has facilitated the manipulation of media in terms of politics? Why or why not?

2. Which do you think is more easy to manipulate, new (internet, social media, etc.) or traditional (paper newspapers, television, radio) media?

3. Are there any instances outside of Korea where politicians would manipulate the crowd (aka "media play") for their own benefit? Please feel free to share one.

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Bibliography

Kwak, Ki-Sung. Media And Democratic Transition In South Korea. New York: Routledge, 2012.

Shirky, Clay. "The Political Power of Social Media: Technology, the Public Sphere, and Political Change." In Foreign Affairs 90, no.1 (2011): 28-41.

Wikipedia contributors, "Stranger (TV series)," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stranger_(TV_series)&oldid=860527800 (accessed October 8, 2018).