By Myoung Hoon Suh
Money Today
Seoul, South Korea
Hosted by the Los Angeles Business Journal

The word 'recharge' comes to mind when I try in one word to sum up the last six months I've been in the US. I was able to take a step back from the daily grind, and thanks to that I had time to think things over. I looked back over the past 10 years I’ve spent as a journalist, and thought long and hard about where I'd be in 10 years time.

It goes without saying that it was impossible to try to erase all traces of family and loneliness, even while soaking in all the freedoms afforded me here. But what I discovered was that the best remedy for filling the void left by longing and loneliness was to fill it with the happiness of learning new things.

1. Multimedia
What I cherish most and would like to share first and foremost with my colleagues is my experience with multimedia. In Korea, IT has developed to a stage where free DMB technology is enjoyed by the majority through their mobile phones. Ages before Facebook made its debut, Koreans were already uploading photos on their own CyWorld homepages. (This may be the reason Koreans call Facebook America's version of CyWorld.)

America's use of multimedia by a print media company lags far behind Korea's. For the most part, there's only an accompanying photo or a video link to an article. But in a word, what I saw of multimedia use at American print media companies while I was at the Poynter Institute was, shocking. It was not only a matter of 'copying and pasting' a photo or a graphic, but a whole host of multimedia platforms in use, including photo slides, interactive graphics, just to name a couple. I would like to let my colleagues know the enormous benefits that can be realized when the use of multimedia is employed well with an article.

2. Quotes of Named & anonymous Sources
The first and biggest problem that I encountered during my working stint at the LA Business Journal was when I asked people during an interview if their real names could be used in an article in which I was quoting them. They nodded their heads.

But in the end I had no choice but to provide their quotes without using their names. That's because the majority of interviewees in Korea are adamant about staying anonymous by claiming their stories are one step removed from them if they are in the third person. But the editors in the US demanded the identity of the person quoted.

I was at first more than a little taken aback by the editors who could not comprehend this difference in cultures. But I got to meet a great deal more people in my search for sources who would agree to reveal his/her identity. In these cases, I was able to pick up a lot more valuable information.

I cannot say which is the better course, because it's hard to say if an article is served better by a quote from an unnamed source or if it’s better to use a named sources in an article even if some of the information is lost.

3. At The Missourian
What was most interesting at The Missourian was learning about 'Citizen Journalism'. It was new and refreshing to see coverage of next door neighbors and ordinary people gracing the front pages of the paper. Most of the people who I have interviewed in my career are very successful and recognized both far and wide. The centerpiece of the articles focused on their successes and what tests and hardships were overcome to reach these successes.

But the stories in The Missourian were about people one would easily meet on the street. It was a way of getting to know what was occupying their minds right here, right now. But it turned out that what was on their minds was usually not only about them and them alone. Everything they had to say was relevant to others in one way or another, and the reporters at The Missourian sought questions to produce quotes with the widest possible relevance. I was ultimately reading articles that addressed ideas and opinions held by many.

All reporters constantly concern themselves with relevance and the value of information when writing articles. But cases abound where the blanks are sought to be filled only after setting an article's angle and parameters. At least that is how it seemed to me. That may be because I learned that it was only then that a more detailed article could be written.

4. LA Business Journal - the focus on investigative reporting
I learned to better appreciate investigative reporting while at the LA Business Journal. Befitting a weekly, the length of the articles was relatively long and deeper analysis was needed. So, there was need for plenty of research and broad sourcing. And I was able to slowly get the gist of investigative reporting as I methodically went about satisfying the editor's demands one at a time.

I came to admire the breadth of open source information available to the American public making it a huge part of the American media’s role. Private and public organizations and government institutions publish and release their data into the public domain. Putting these to good use not only adds to public confidence and credibility, but analysis of such data could lead to more articles.

Still more interesting was the weekly company list that the LA Business Journal compiled with so much effort. It was a list that ranked some 90 companies, of which the top ones were analyzed before articles were written about them. Not only was the readership of this information high, but the list itself was marketable. Its level of utility was high for an economic newspaper.

5. Learning
If I were to add one other point, then I would stress that the continuous learning was not only central in my fellowship but the reward itself. For the last ten years, I put learning new things on the back burner while I grinded it out on a day in, day out basis. I took little interest outside my own purview even when a seismic social shift had emerged. I habitually pretended to know nothing about either a new technology or its exploding popularity if it had nothing to do with my reporting.

But if I am to continue on with my work as a reporter and if I am to contribute my share, I have little choice but to overcome this issue. Reporters in Korea are commonly said to be the 'windows of society'. Are we not running the risk then that window will be passed by and overlooked should its shine and luster fail to be maintained?