CAH had a great time interviewing with a professor Kwak Dong-sung, who had worked as a reporter in CAH as well as a managing editor. He is now a professor of the Department of Business Administration.

 

CAH: How was your university life when you worked as a reporter for the CAH?

Kwak: I think mine was pretty similar to yours. I read books, newspapers, and did homework in the office, which is what you guys do nowadays. Also, I hung out with many friends of course.

 

CAH: What did you gain from working as a member of Chung-ang herald?

Kwak: Before I worked as a reporter for the CAH, I didn’t expect many things. However, the valuable experiences I underwent in CAH gave me numerous opportunities to train myself. These experiences are not the ones that ordinary students, who are not reporters, could have experienced. The founder of Chung-Ang University, Lim Young-sin, provided me with many opportunities to meet with new experiences. One of them includes a meeting with the diplomatic director of the United States. He is a very busy, important person, who is hard to meet as a university student. Also, I have been to a seminar with many reporters from other universities. I met new people and listened to educational speeches from the seminar. These rare experiences trained me and made me to see other parts of the world.

 

CAH: Nowadays, many students are indifferent to school media. What do you think about the crisis of school media?

Kwak: Chung-ang Herald newspaper was once published as more of a tabloid. About the time when the format changed from tabloid to magazine, many university reporters began to write articles related to social issues. Many of their articles criticized the time’s social phenomena. At the time, the school media was regarded as one of the ways to instigate others and help a student movement. I was very dissatisfied with their articles because I believe that school media should be mostly about students’ lives, not social issues. Think about the real fundamental purpose of school media. Its aim is to inform about students themselves, not to report about social ideology and agitate other students. School media should be related to students and their lives. This is one of the reasons why I founded Chung-ang Herald speech contest for the first time when I worked as a managing editor. I wanted to make something that can approach students in a more familiar and open way. Also, I wanted to form a student-oriented media. Other than this, a goal of school media is to advertize our school to other universities. The number of magazines transported abroad has reduced compared to the number when I was working. Many foreign universities have sections in their buildings that place newspapers from other universities. More students than we expect are interested in reading them. This is why I continuously emphasize writing about students’ lives. By reading our newspaper, foreign students can learn about Korean students’ lives and culture. It can also advertise our school to them. When these elementary purposes are accomplished, school media can overcome the crisis. By reading about things that can gain students’ empathy, students would naturally become more interested in reading school newspapers.

 

CAH: What motivated you to become a professor in CAU?

Kwak: The founder of CAU helped me a lot. Although she has passed away, she supported me a lot when she was alive. She made me to study harder, gave me an opportunity to go to America after graduation, and showed me novel sides of the world. Because she travelled a lot for her work, I could indirectly hear from her about what was happening all over the world.

 

CAH: Can you give some words to students who have worked in CAH and who are working as reporters?

Kwak: Students should have passion on everything they do. When they study, they should study ardently. When they play, they should play passionately. When they are young, they should undergo as many experiences they can have as possible.