South Korean journalists recently traveled to North Korea and met with what represents their profession up there.  And wouldn’t you know it?  They found a remarkable degree of common ground.

“We, journalists of the South and the North, support the Joint Statement of June 15, 2000 and take the lead in implementing it; We firmly oppose and reject any outside intervention in the internal affairs of the nation and threats of war; We will reject any report that can foster the disintegration of the nation and report fairly in the direction of promoting reconciliation and unity of the nation; We will continuously promote our joint cooperation projects.”

I sure would love to know the names of the South Korean journalists who signed that.  I’d set up a database page and track their reporting for skeptical viewers (more generally, news consumers need to know much more about journalists, stringers, and their political affiliations and associations — case in point).  It’s no wonder the United States can’t get a break in some of the South Korean papers.  So, how does one become a “journalist” in North Korea?  Reporters Without Borders tells us.

Journalists are press-ganged by the party into implementing a “permanent information plan,” which sets a strict hierarchy for media work. The first priority is publicising the greatness of Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il. Then comes demonstrating the superiority of North Korean socialism, denouncing imperialist and bourgeois corruption, and criticising the invasion instinct of the imperialists and Japanese.

Much more here.  It certainly doesn’t sound like journalism as I know it, but in a somewhat different way, the same applies to a lot of the crap I see in South Korean papers.