KJD digital head introduces K-campus at global media congress

The news does not always have to be a one-way conversation, Korea JoongAng Daily Head of Digital Kim Jee-hee told the International News Media Association World Congress in New York on Friday.

Korea JoongAng Daily Head of Digital Kim Jee-hee, center, discusses interative media formats with, from left, moderator Jodie Hopperton, Yiting Ang of Singapore’s SPH Mediatrust, Matej Loncaric of Croatia’s CME Adria and Debbie McMahon of the Financial Times during a panel at the International News Media Association's World Congress in New York on Friday. [INTERNATIONAL NEWS MEDIA ASSOCIATION]

NEW YORK — The news does not always have to be a one-way conversation, Korea JoongAng Daily Head of Digital Kim Jee-hee told the International News Media Association World Congress in New York on Friday.

Speaking as part of a panel on interactive products, Kim told media executives from around the world that there is value in establishing a conversation with readers and producing the content that they are looking for.

Kim also introduced the Korea JoongAng Daily’s K-campus platform to the World Congress as an example of a product that takes the news to the audience and encourages them to take part in the conversation.

“K-campus is still a news service but repackaged in a platform that offers a range of other services that students might need,” Kim said. “The content is student-led, with existing students submitting their own reviews of student life in Korea. The focus is on user-submitted reviews first and published articles second.”

K-campus, launched in February this year, is a website and app catering to the needs of English-speaking students in Korea and prospective students considering studying here.

As well as carrying all the relevant news, K-campus also includes a user-submitted review section, a comprehensive university ranking, job board, advice and a community forum.

K-campus is represented by the character Jandi, a play on the Korean word for grass, who appears on both the website and in social media content.

“When we launched K-campus it quickly became clear that Jandi is going to be a pretty big part of the brand,” Kim told the World Congress. “The character appears throughout the K-campus platform and has been a regular feature of our social media content since before the website launched. It also changes the narrative slightly from a traditional newspaper delivering information to a two-way conversation, with Jandi putting a face to the K-campus name.”

Kim shared the stage with Yiting Ang from Singapore’s SPH Mediatrust, Matej Loncaric from Croatia’s CME Adria and Debbie McMahon from the Financial Times.

Other speakers at the two-day World Congress included New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger, News Corp CEO Robert Thomson, the Atlantic CEO Nick Thompson and executives and thought leaders from media corporations around the world.

The International News Media Association is the “world's leading provider of global best practices and insights for news media companies looking to grow revenue, audience and brand amid profound market change.”

Alongside the two-day World Congress on Thursday and Friday, the organization also held a series of workshops focused on different aspects of the industry and study tours visiting some of the biggest media corporations in the New York City area.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]