Lee Sang-Cheol is an emeritus professor for the Department of Mass Communication at Chung-Ang University. He chose to pursue the field of mass communication as an undergraduate. After coming back from the U.S. in 1981, he established the first mass communication graduate school in Korea. He was also the thesis evaluation chairman for the Korean Association for Broadcasting and Telecommunication Studies. He came into the Chung-Ang Herald in 1963. The Chung-Ang Herald was able to meet him at a coffee shop and listen to his words.
I was accepted to Chung-Ang University in 1962. I started out as a Chung-Ang Herald reporter in 1963 and went on to be the 5th editor-in-chief. CAU’s founder Yim Young-Shin, or Dr. Louise Yim, had very much interest in English so we were able to receive a lot of support from the school. Dr. Louise Yim used the Chung-Ang Herald as a sort of medium to contact other schools abroad. She sent the Herald to some fairly big universities in the U.S. and they would send their school newspapers in return.
Also in my time, the students who participated in the Chung-Ang Herald were usually those who had a passion for English. I think that the passion was stronger than now. It would be a stereotype to think that students in the past were not as good at English as students are now. Of course we had fewer resources to refer to, but the students who studied hard were just as good as the students nowadays. Even so, we needed a native speaker to proofread the articles and give us some technical advice. CAU was a sister school to Long Island University so there were several exchange professors and we asked them to help us in making the Herald.
English might be very widespread nowadays but that wasn’t the case back then. It took great courage to join the Chung-Ang Herald and participate in making an English newspaper. You could say that the Herald was an elite group, since we were challenging ourselves to do something that not all students could do. Also, when I was a part of the Herald, I loved having a group that I belonged to, and really enjoyed that fact that I had my very own seat at the Herald office. The Chung-Ang Herald’s atmosphere was really great. All the reporters were really close to each other and we were like a family.
I also worked with the Chung-Ang University Newspaper, and at the time I told them not just deal with news inside of campus, but news relating to the overall community as well. This is how the university paper is in the U.S. In fairly large sized universities, the school newspaper represents the whole community surrounding the school, not only the university itself. So the reporters at the Chung-ang Newspaper went out to get coverage about a nearby Chinese restaurant, as well as a bank that was near the school. I know that college students like to criticize policies and problems related to their universities, and that is an important thing to do, but the school newspaper needs to be connected with the community that it belongs to.
I want to tell students who are currently attending university, that participating in an activity and actually “doing” something, anything really, will become an asset to you in the future. Sure, it is important to study but studying should not be the only thing that you do. Don’t just sit there in a classroom listening to your professor. Students need to know how to think for themselves, set a goal, and strive to reach that goal.
Also specifically for members of the Herald; what you make of the Chung-Ang Herald is completely up to you. The reporters at the Herald should keep in mind that they are able to taking part in something special. As I said before, don’t cling to your studies, but rather, spend more time widening your vision. The two things that students nowadays need most is passion, as well as persistence.