Navigating the Changing Landscape: The Impact of YouTube on Journalistic Professionalism in South Korea

Journalistic professionalism is not a static or inherent attribute but rather a historical development. It encompasses a set of values, strategies, and codes that identify an individual as a member of the press, fostering a professional culture. This culture provides a framework for journalists to conceptualize, articulate, and execute their work. Key professional ideals such as autonomy from market forces, independence from governmental influence, and objectivity function as regulatory standards, helping journalists cultivate a shared understanding of good journalism.

In South Korea, journalists typically adhere to objective reporting. This principle not only guides their reporting approach but also bolsters journalism's role as the “fourth estate,” which observes and reports societal developments impartially to the public. Society's endorsement of journalists and their narratives confers authority on the press.

The rise of YouTube-based journalistic actors is challenging this established specialization process. South Korea, characterized by high YouTube usage for news consumption, exemplifies this trend. According to the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2024, the percentage of Koreans using YouTube for news has been steadily increasing and remains notably high. In 2024, while the average YouTube news consumption across 47 countries surveyed was 31 percent, in Korea, it was 51 percent. Unlike other countries, this trend persists across all age groups in Korea.

YouTube has become a competitive landscape for various media entities—mainstream outlets, digital-native organizations, and individual creators. In April 2019, Nielsen Korea reported 306 Korean YouTube news channels with over 10,000 subscribers; of these, individual creators led 150 and traditional media companies 56. Notably, the channels by ideological influencers are highly successful in viewership.

YouTube’s open-access platform enables anyone to produce and distribute news content, leading to tension between traditional and emerging journalistic standards. As shown by Nielsen Korea's 2019 survey, Korean audiences primarily seek “fun, frolic, and frivolity” from YouTube news, rather than credibility or information. Consequently, news content that strays from the traditional norm of objectivity tends to gain higher viewership. This trend prompts both professional journalists and nontraditional creators to potentially eschew conventional journalistic standards, paving the way for novel practices in news production on YouTube.

Notably, some emerging YouTube journalists actively challenge established journalistic norms. These “journalistic interlopers” navigate their roles within journalism, often positioning themselves as counters to mainstream media. In doing so, they rhetorically define their niche within the field. For instance, political micro-celebrities on YouTube in various European countries often depict themselves as correctives to perceived biases in mainstream media, which they argue focus disproportionately on issues like feminism and LGBTQ activism, thereby portraying themselves as offering more balanced perspectives.

These interlopers emphasize micro-celebrity traits—relatability, authenticity, and individuality—to build trust among certain news consumers, presenting themselves as more genuine compared to traditional journalists, whom they view as distant and inauthentic. They frequently use assertive language and may suppress dissenting views, claiming their approach as more truthful compared to legacy media, whose journalists they accuse of insincerely maintaining civility for audience retention.

Journalism has historically upheld its social respect as an institution for information control due to the effective operation of its professional norms. In the current “YouTube journalism” era, it is crucial for news users to critically engage with which journalistic norms persist, which new practices are emerging, and what transformations are underway. Will these changing norms indeed sustain the social authority of journalism? If not, what will journalism become?

By Shin Woo-yeol, Assistant Professor, Department of Media & Communication