신문의 대기업 호의보도와 광고의 상관관계

Abstract

This study aims to verify whether there is the type of promotional journalism – by which newspapers’ favorable reports are exchanged with corporate advertisements with the expectation of some reciprocity–between newspapers and large companies in Korea. To that end, the study examined the correlation between the amount of favorable news coverage and the advertisement amount of five largest business groups which were carried in the Chosun Ilbo, the Kyunghyang Shinmun and the Maeil Business Newspaper for twelve years from the time when Korea was hit by financial crisis to 2009. The study revealed that there was a positive correlation between the total amount of favorable news reports and the advertisement amount. According to the analysis by newspaper, in the case of the Chosun Ilbo and the Maeil Business Newspaper, there was a statistically significant positive correlation between the amount of favorable news coverage and the advertisement amount. However, in the case of the Kyunghyang Shinmun, there was a weak correlation between the two factors, which was not statistically significant. These findings of the study imply that although there is the promotional journalism by which favorable news reports are exchanged with advertisements, it concerns mainly the conservative and large business-friendly newspapers.