North Korea’s state-run broadcaster changes style, but not approach
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While the substance may be predictable, North Korea’s state-run broadcaster is undergoing a style makeover, as it attempts to project a more modern image befitting a country whose leader has held nuclear talks – and on equal terms – with the US president.
The Guardian reports that changes in the way Korean Central Television (KCTV) is covering the news were in evidence last Thursday, when its main evening news bulletin had a decidedly more contemporary look.
The report says that KCTV had also reported North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s second meeting with Donald Trump last month with greater speed than the country’s viewers have come to expect.
“It ran reports the same day or the following day, which is exceptionally speedy for state media. I believe that was because the world’s eyes were on North Korea, and because North Korean citizens have access to overseas media. The state propaganda machine no longer operates in a vacuum.” The economic news segment in last Thursday’s programme included the use of drone footage to illustrate a report on light industry in the capital Pyongyang, along with tracking shots of factory workers and their machinery. In another departure from the state media’s traditional approach, the reports featured computer graphics throughout.
The bells and whistles caught the attention of South Korean media, with Yonhap news agency describing the use of drones, time-lapse recordings and data visualisation as evidence that the regime “is trying different ways to deliver the news”.
