Kang Shin-who, the worst journalist in Korea's English-language press, was recently rewarded for all his hard work.
Kang Shin-who, a Korea Times City Desk reporter, has been named Reporter of the Month for October for his scoops on the controversial nontaxable status of U.S.-based TOEFL test provider, ETS.
The Journalist Association of Korea and the Korea Press Foundation announced Kang's selection Tuesday for his series of articles which started on Oct. 20.
Here's his latest piece, "English Teacher Jailed for Harassing Minor" and an excerpt:
An English tutor who served time for harassing minor female students was found guilty of repeating his crime and handed a two-year prison term ― this time for kissing a girl student against her will.
A Seoul court said Tuesday the 49-year-old man, identified as Park, who studied at a U.S. college, was arrested for violating the Sexual Protection of Children and Juveniles Law. His nationality was not revealed.
Seems to be getting at something there.
Kang has earned his poor reputation among some here for giving attention to the Anti-English Spectrum in an article about ATEK
"There are many foreign instructors who are leading disorderly lives involving sex and drugs, although the foreign group is denying it," said Lee Eun-ung, founder of the Citizens' Association for Lawful English Education, a group dedicated to mounting surveillance on foreign English teachers. "Without accepting the facts, they will never succeed in removing their bad image."
for distorting the words of Seoul National University's Douglas Gress, for fabricating quotations by International Graduate School of English President Park Nam-sheik
``Most of the native English speakers don't have much affection toward our children because they came here to earn money and they often cause problems,'' Park said.
for misquoting the Seoul National University of Education president
"The native speakers are not qualified and are often involved in sexual harassment and drugs."
for mischaracterizing Gangnam public school teachers concerned about their contracts
"Teachers in Gangnam Rebel"
. . .
A protest by native English teachers in the district of Gangnam over diminished housing subsidies has hit the wall with the district office issuing a "take-it-or-leave-it" ultimatum.
for giving a false number of ATEK members in February, 2009
An association for 20,000 foreign English teachers said Wednesday they will fight against discrimination in Korea, indicating they will step up their crusade against proposed legislation requiring them to submit drug tests and criminal background checks.
for misquoting and misrepresenting Benjamin Wagner and looking to create a rift between E-series and F-series visa holders, and for a history of poor reporting, half-truths, and vague statements meant to discredit native speaker English teachers.
30 comments:
That really says everything about the state of journalism doesn't it?
Now I can put a face to incompetence
Thanks for the pic, now I know who to follow. Mr. Kang, meet my friend, the dark alley.
Actually, I would love to see a rift between E-series visa holders and F-series visa holders. I hated the sanctimonious "kept man" air that white dudes married to Koreans got after they gave her a duck.
When I link to your blog on Facebook, you automatically got a thumbnail of a gold ribbon for 1 of the 100 best blogs (in Korea?)
I think I see the source of his pain. He's been trying to grow a mustache for the last year and all he's managed is what most Western men sprout by lunch time.
Keep at it, Kang!
You are a shining example of our great nation Mr. Kang!
David tz, when I post an entry the facebook icon is usually the first picture in the post (but I can choose from among them). Often times the bloglines logo, or the trashcan next to comments shows up, which is in many cases appropriate. The golden kimchi thing and the ribbon show up b/c those pictures are always on the site.
And David tz, I know you're just joking, but---this goes for everyone here---let's not get into talk about following him or "meet"ing him. I don't want to encourage that, I don't want Korean readers to think I encourage that. The facts and Kang's distortion of them in his tabloid stand for themselves.
Now I know there are plenty of well-intentioned English teachers teaching in Korea but come on...
In my three years as a teacher there in two separate hakwons, I have to admit I've seen more bad than good when it came to my fellow teachers. I'm not trying to defend Kang or anything - just speaking from my own experiences.
Most of my fellow teachers (7 out of 13) would party until the early morning, come in with a hangover (or stoned) and could really care less about the material they were supposed to teach the children for that day whose parents have paid huge sums of money for. Then, during one of their breaks, they talk about what they were going to do for that night and the cycle continues.
I don't know what else Kang has said or done to attract all this negative attention but in that last quote there, I believe Kang does have a point. A lot of westerners hear about the large paychecks being given to English teachers overseas and immediately jump at the opportunity. Then, when they get there they get hit with culture shock and go into depressed mode on and off which ultimately affects their abilities as a teacher.
Am I wrong here?
In my three years as a teacher there in two separate hakwons, I have to admit I've seen more bad than good when it came to my fellow teachers. I'm not trying to defend Kang or anything - just speaking from my own experiences.
I think that says more for the quality of the people doing the hiring than it does the quality of the people they hired.
I've been here 13 years, and my experiences are quite the opposite. Granted, in my experience, there are more yahoos being hired for hagwon jobs than for public school or university, but they are still outnumbered by a longshot by the responsible serious-minded instructors. It's just that they get more press because their obnoxiousness is more visible. People remember the idiots; they don't remember the quiet polite ones.
Out of 3 hagwons and 2 universities, I've only come across a few yahoos: two rage-aholics, three alcoholics, one party clown with a fake degree, and one deviant (that I'm aware of; there may have been a few closet cases, too).
Other than a few otherwise nice people who were clueless in the classroom, everyone else seemed to have their head on straight. Out of (thinking) probably more than 200 former and current colleagues, that's a far different picture than the one Kang and the douchenozzles at AES would have you believe.
@John
And who, exactly, hired these people?
The accountability needs to start with the guy doing the hiring.
You're doing the same thing Kang does. You've seen a few assholes and are assuming that the majority of NETs behave like that. The reality is, it's probably a small minority that engage in asshole behaviour.
In my 3+ years, I've only seen a few real idiots and most of them worked in the academies.
NSETs as drunk partiers? Like the minimum 30% of ajosshis on the bus when I commute from work at the party hour of 8:30 p.m.?
John,
I agree that one does see some pretty ridiculous behaviour from SOME of the NSETs in Korea. But when we place all of the blame on the foreigners themselves -- as Kang intentionally does -- we let their employers off the hook for, A)hiring the first random white yahoo who answers the online job posting, and B)not cultivating a work environment that encourages professionalism.
I'm not saying we should let jackass NSETs off the hook, either; they're still jackasses. But, they're jackasses who wouldn't even BE in Korea if someone hadn't hired them. And the system won't improve if reporters like Kang continue to ignore the irresponsible employers, choosing to stir up unhelpful racial prejudice instead.
Brian, you should add something there to your list, since it gets indexed by Google. He misrepresented ATEK as well when it launched, saying that they represented all the English teachers in the country, when I clearly stated to him that ATEK only represents its members.
Back then nobody knew what Kang was, so I got blamed for saying something I never said.
Thanks, Tony, I've added it.
@ John:
I consistently tell my friends at home that living and working in Korea is like college all over again except I get paid. And it is. I party a lot. I see my friends all the time. I only have about 20 hours of class time a week (which is, granted, a lot more than most weeks in college).
But the people I'm talking to and I all know that college was fun and awesome and involved booze, but also involved staying up studying for exams and reading countless books, attending lame lectures and pointless group meetings with that annoying junior-class girl who always wanted you to make an "agenda" for the group project.
So yeah, Korea is fun and I enjoy myself a lot more than I did working for a marketing firm back home. But, as has been said, the blame can't lie with people who barely passed college. It has to lie with the imbeciles who were stupid enough to hire them.
Now that I think about it, I might just do my masters thesis on the correlation between acting like a fool in Korea and GPA achieved in college. No one steal my idea.
Mike, your case study can be Isaac the idiot. No one acts more like a clown than him.
I'm with ROK and Matt
One can match anecdote for anecdote.
KOTESOL was busting at the seams last annual meeting. Joe's podcast is an endless parade of serious ex pats looking to contribute to Korea. People are standing up for their rights in Korean society these days. These are all indications to me the E2 scene has moved beyond hoggy players with a BA looking for a place to get paid, drink and score Asian chicks.
At the end of the day the crime stats say it all. E2 teachers commit fewer crimes by an order of magnitude. If John has another objective metric, I'd like to see it.
I have to agree with Mike. Korea is a lot like university. Even though I only attended for a few years.
Haebangchon is like the university dorm area, your meeting new people on a constant basis. Your drinking until the early mornings, your just as promiscuous, maybe even more so. And for some, mainly myself, your more of a degenerate. You find interesting ways of making money. How many people do you know sold weed to get by at uni? Whats the difference in selling degrees? One gets you high, the other gets you ahead.
Many of the teachers here say they never knew anyone with a forged diploma.This seems extremely odd. I dont know where you have been or what world you live in. But during my many years in Korea I met dozens of people with phoney documents teaching at institutions throughout the country. Many of these schools knowing that their teacher didnt have a degree, but were able to pull some strings and get them visas.
Since stalking someone until they off themselves is still perfectly legal here in Korea...isn't this guy asking for it? Anyone have his address, ID number, and phone number? These are the first pieces of information Koreans put on the stalkernet to ruin each other (like when my sister-in-law refused to pay bribes to her daughter's teacher). This clown wants attention, let's see he gets it.
PS-Where's the news story in which this guy gets called a racist or cunt?
I emailed the KT's editor address. I got a response 'n' everything. It's like they just don't get it over there.
My original email:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/11/117_56047.html
I'm utterly stunned to learn Kang Shin-who was honored with anything other than a position in the unemployment line. His ineptitude and dishonesty are well documented:
http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2009/11/kang-shin-who-koreas-worst-journalist.html
I struggle to understand why a paper ostensibly targeted at an English speaking customer base would continue to publish this Nazi-style hate monger. It would appear complaints about your paper's Nazi-style race baiting have fallen on deaf ears. The ex pat community will not take this lying down. We will start to complain to your advertisers. You've woken the sleeping tiger. Best of luck.
The response:
thanks for your information instead of attacking a journalist, we expect your recommendations to be conveyed to us to reflect them in our editorial and news coverage. Korea Times is communicating and engaging with citizens. All of advice from our readers will be respected and shared in our newsroom. Blacklisting a specific reporter is also an online harassment.
csl
executive managing editor
My reply:
Are you nuts? Is this not the first complaint you've heard about this Nazi-style hate monger you employ to attack foreigners who overwhelming seek only to work hard to educate your children? Foreigners that clearly you aim to *sell* your paper to and aim to *market advertisers* to? Perhaps you're entirely unaware the KT in the foreign community has little more authority than Nazi-era race baiting publications like Der Sturmer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_St%C3%BCrmer
As to recommendations, perhaps you'd like to follow the link already supplied:
http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2009/11/kang-shin-who-koreas-worst-journalist.html
The recommendations are there and *obvious*. The most obvious is employ a reporter who does not simply make up facts and quotes. Geez. I'm forced to question your own competence as an editor. What low standards does your paper subscribe to? How lower can they go?
Anyway, let the KT know your great displeasure at:
editor@koreatimes.co.kr
Someone is reading.
Darn it Brian, I was trying for the award of wolrd's worst journalist, by not proofreading or by using spell checking. Oh wait we got too many things right. That's where I screwed up. I will have to try harder for next years award.
코리아타임스 강신후 기자
(Korea Times reporter Kang Shin-who)
Post a Comment