Донга Ильбо: История и современность южнокорейской газеты.

South Korean daily newspaper

The Dong a Ilbo is a daily Korean language newspaper published in South Korea. It is considered a newspaper of record in the country, and was founded in 1920. The paper has been a significant presence in Korean society and history, especially during the 1910–1945 Japanese colonial period, when it championed the Korean independence movement. The Dong a Ilbo is the parent company of Dong a Media Group (DAMG), which is composed of 11 affiliates including Sports Dong a, Dong a Science, DUNet, and dongA. com, as well as Channel A, general service cable broadcasting company launched on 1 December 2011. It covers a variety of areas including news, drama, entertainment, sports, education, and movies. The Dong a Ilbo has partnered with international news companies such as The New York Times of the United States, The Asahi Shimbun of Japan and The People's Daily of China. It has correspondents stationed in five major cities worldwide including Washington D. C., New York, San Francisco, Beijing, Tokyo, Cairo and Paris. It also publishes global editions in 90 cities worldwide including New York, London, Paris and Frankfurt.

Many of the earliest modern Korean newspapers flourished during the early Korean Empire period. However, concurrently, the Empire of Japan was rapidly encroaching on Korean sovereignty. Japan increasingly pressured Korean newspapers to close, and by the time of Korea's official colonization in 1910, only a handful were left. This included the Korean language Maeil Sinbo, which was de facto operated by the Japanese colonial government. Colonial restrictions on the Korean press and freedom of speech were initially tight; by 1915, the last remaining Korean owned newspaper Gyeongnam Ilbo was pressured to close, which left the Maeil Sinbo as the only Korean language newspaper allowed in Korea. It announced that it would allow a limited number of Korean owned newspapers to be established. Park Yung hyo served as the paper's first president, and Yang Gi tak and Yu Kŭn (hangul=유근) as its editorial directors (hangul=편집감독). Much of the printing equipment and staff for the Korean owned papers was transferred to either the Maeil Sinbo or the de facto official Japanese language publication Keijō Nippō.

On August 15, 1945, Japan announced that it would surrender to the Allies, which signaled the liberation of Korea. Printing equipment was still held by the Maeil Sinbo and Keijō Nippō; the remnants of the colonial government protected the equipment from being seized by Koreans even weeks after the surrender. In September, the United States arrived and established the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) south of the 38th parallel, which encompassed Seoul. The U. S. allowed for greater freedom of the press for Koreans, and facilitated the closure of the Japanese owned papers and transfer of printing equipment to the Koreans. On October 24, 1974, one of their issues was censored by the government, and prevented from being published. In protest of this, The Dong a Ilbo published a public statement demanding more press freedom. The Park Chung Hee administration then contacted various companies that advertised in The Dong a Ilbo, and pressured them to break their contracts with the newspaper. This led to the December 1974 , where no advertisements were published in a number of issues of the paper for months. By the time the unrest largely ended, almost half of the paper's staff had been fired or left.

Dong a Ilbo has been investing in many ventures that integrate technology into the method of spreading the news. First was the establishment of DongA. com which is the online version of the paper with much more content. It provides space for discussion and submission by the readers. From the success of the on line content, the company also started its mobile services allowing readers to seek out the news wherever and whenever they are. With recent partnership with Reuters, Dong a aims to add multimedia services to its methods. With raw video feeds from Reuters which Dong a has the right to edit for its own use, DongA. com aims to reach its readers through text, images and video.

Dong a Ilbo has always recognized its responsibility as a public corporation. As stated in Dong a DNA, humanism is a great part of Dong a Ilbo. It has a Culture & Sports Operations department (New Project Bureau) that works to raise awareness of different areas in arts and sports as well as promote healthy lifestyles. The company also has many foundations and scholarships for the less fortunate students in the country.