"Every citizen is a reporter," states OhMyNews founder Oh Yeon Ho
At the 11th World Editors Forum today, Mr. Oh Yeon Ho, CEO and Founder of OhmyNews said goodbye to 20th century journalism and invited everyone to the 21st century, in which “Every citizen is a reporter.” His online publication, OhMyNews, based in South Korea, has offered its readers since 2000 a new media proposition : to become active readers in an environment where every citizen is a (potential) reporter. In a south Korean market where (mobile & broadband) internet penetration is 75 %, online technologies give citizens the unique opportunity to produce OhMyNews' content. The intent of blurring the line between contributor and consumer is to "change the world together," Mr. Ho said.
Everyday, Korean citizens send OhMyNews their articles, photos, videos. The OhMyNews publishing team then selects, organizes and edits the most important news to post on the website's front page. In 2003, the site was ranked the sixth most influential Korean media outlet in the annual Sisa Journal Survey.
Fresh out of school, Oh joined Mahl, a liberal Korean monthly magazine, as a staff reporter. He continued his work at Mahl until 1999 as Chief-of-Staff. From March 1995 through October 1997, he worked in the United States as Mahl's correspondent in Washington, D.C.
Six years before AP correspondents were awarded a Pulitzer Prize for their report on No Gun Ri massacre by American soldiers during the Korean War, Oh conducted comprehensive interviews with the survivors and reported the in-depth story for Mahl.
Oh was born in 1964 in Gokseong, a peaceful riverside town located in the southern part of South Korea. He graduated from Yonsei University in 1988 with a degree in Korean literature. He earned a master's degree in journalism from Regent University in 1998 and is currently preparing for a doctoral degree in mass-communication at Sogang University in Seoul.
Oh has published a number of independent books and collections of his experiences in South Korean journalism over the past ten years. He currently lives in Seoul with his wife and two children.
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