Beattie, Melissa Anne
2025.
'Viral'media?: consumption of factual and fictional media in South Korea during the coronavirus outbreak.
Intersectional Perspectives: Identity, Culture, and Society
4
(2)
, pp. 32-59.
10.18573/ipics.145
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Abstract
The Republic of Korea (hereafter South Korea) was one of the first countries impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. At the time of data collection the country was still subject to intermittent lockdowns in response to localised spikes in infection rates. This paper investigates the consumption of both factual and fictional media during the early stages of the pandemic through an online, semi-structured questionnaire in both Korean and English. This paper focuses specifically at what respondents were watching, if it was different to what they usually watched, why they watched that particular media and contextualised it in their overall self-reported reactions to the pandemic and quarantine with regard to ontological security. I have found significant differences in overall responses to the pandemic and the South Korean government’s actions based upon both national origin and age, as well as the different levels of awareness of ‘fake news’ and potential media manipulation in ‘factual’ media. I have also noted how fictional media were consumed by respondents, focusing upon differences in content and quantity as well as the different attitudes toward fictional media in general. My research has found that the perceived-polarised South Korean media and the need for ontological security were key to media consumption during the early part of the pandemic.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Status: | Published |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) |
| Publisher: | Cardiff University Press |
| ISSN: | 2752-3497 |
| Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 13 October 2025 |
| Date of Acceptance: | 8 April 2025 |
| Last Modified: | 13 Oct 2025 17:02 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181633 |
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