Last year, the parents of my son’s friend at school began divorce proceedings. The father, who has Asperger’s syndrome, was not home most of the time and was abusive.

But not long after, the kid’s mother began to regret her decision. Her husband was vastly wealthy, but he refused to part with his riches. Lengthy lawsuits ensued.

The woman eventually won custody rights, but lost everything else. We used to be close, but after she sold her car and moved away, we lost contact.

The final time we met, I was stunned at how she appeared to be completely depleted of vitality and self-confidence.

Money cannot make you happy, but without it you are lost. Most of all, you lose your dignity and conviction.

Journalists are seldom rich. The media, maybe, but that was back in the day when people actually paid to read or watch the news.

Now, more and more people in the industry have forfeited their rights to write what they want or should, not due to hierarchy or political pressures, but because they lack financial independence.

A few days ago, news that Samsung would be cutting costs by up to 20 percent made the rounds.

While it is big news anyway, it became bigger at local news outlets because it means there will be an inevitable spillover effect on their coffers as well.

The cost cuts would include ad spending, and many, many newspapers and online news outlets depend on Samsung ads for finances.

In fact, some of the mom-and-pop agencies claim that one big ad from Samsung is enough to feed them for several months.

Hence, the focus of the media on Samsung issues. One former Samsung executive once said it is a well-known inside joke to call the ads they place “media maintenance costs.” Well-put, if you ask me.

Nobody reads the papers anymore. The information they get is mainly online. And all that is controlled by Naver, South Korea’s largest search engine. What Naver says, goes. 

Nobody is interested in knowing what journalists say. Even if there is a scoop, nobody knows who wrote it and they don’t really feel the urge to find out.

But this is putting all the blame on the consumers.

It is long past time for the media to change. To cater to what people really want to read, what they want to know and not what a journalist feels is important.

For example, policy stories are necessary, but people want to read about how it will affect them. They aren’t interested in the long list of clauses. They want to know how their lives will change due to these policies.

Samsung issues deserve significant coverage, but is it just me who feels that the media is more concerned about how the cuts will affect them and not the public at large?

I have no real answers as to what the media can do to regain its financial independence. 

As I write this, I am questioning whether the media actually ever had such independence.

When it was not the big companies, it was politicians, Cheong Wa Dae or military strongmen that controlled the media, so it seems like it is just that the controlling forces have changed.

We are all slaves of capitalism. Journalists too have families they need to raise and I’m no martyr myself.

But sometimes, when I think about reporters who, in return for integrity, gave up their lives to air what the public deserves to know, I feel a deep sense of respect, tinged with despair and sadness.

By Kim Ji-hyun

Korea Herald correspondent

Kim Ji-hyun is The Korea Herald’s Tokyo correspondent. She can be reached at jemmie@heraldcorp.com. — Ed.