A Study of News Frames on the Controversy over Evolutionary Theories in South Korean Science Textbooks

Abstract

This study investigates how Korean media dealt with a dispute between evolutionists and creationists over how to handle Archaeopteryx in science textbooks. This study found most journalists did not intentionally highlight the issue while the Seoul Shinmun aroused readers’ attention to it with swift reports. This study was designed to examine why some media firms intentionally avoided the issue, what differences conservative and progressive news media showed, and how newspapers owned by churches responded to the controversy. I analyzed all reports from eight media outlets and conducted in-depth interviews with five journalists who covered the issue. This study found Korea’s science journalism, in general, is in poor condition despite its increasingly important role. It is difficult for media companies to have a professional science journalist. Moreover, they cannot concentrate on science issues because of other overlapping responsibilities. It is high time for the Korean media industry to address this problem in order to generate higher-quality science stories. Korean science journalists are also highly dependent on renowned foreign journals including NSC, one of the crucial sources of information and scientific news. They should consider how to reduce such reliance. The dispute between evolutionists and creationists will not be resolved any time soon. Neither has been fully proved. One is in the realm of science and the other is in the realm of religion. It will be difficult to narrow their differences. This study hopefully highlights the need for journalists, scientists and religious circles to better understand the essences of their own area, develop their theoretical foundation, and respect the others’ fields.

Keywords

• Archaeopteryx
• horse
• science textbook
• dispute between evolu-tionists and creationists