SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Within the about 1,000 days between her drunken-driving crash in Could 2022 and her dying, South Korean mainstream information organizations printed not less than round 2,000 tales on movie actor Kim Sae-rom. A fast search within the nation’s press database yields a wave of sensational headlines that illustrate how the native media typically cowl a celeb’s fall from grace. Beforehand one of many brightest younger stars in South Korean cinema, Kim was condemned and ridiculed for driving drunk; for speaking about her monetary struggles after dropping roles; for taking a job at a espresso store; for making an attempt a comeback in theater; for going out with mates as an alternative of “showing remorse”; and for being seen smiling on set whereas taking pictures an indie film.
After the 24-year-old actor was discovered lifeless at her house Sunday, the headlines predictably swung to calling for modifications to the way in which celebrities are handled within the public enviornment.
Kim’s dying, which police take into account a suicide, provides to a rising listing of high-profile movie star deaths within the nation, which some consultants attribute to the large strain celebrities face beneath the gaze of a relentlessly unforgiving media that seizes on each misstep.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: In South Korea, callers can obtain 24-hour counseling via the suicide prevention hotline 1577-0199, the “Life Line” service at 1588-9191, the “Hope Phone” at 129 and the “Youth Phone” at 1388.
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Here is a have a look at the extreme strain confronted by South Korean celebrities who fall from grace.
A sudden fall from grace
South Korea is notoriously harsh on its celebrities, notably girls.
Kim rose to stardom as a baby actor with the 2010 hit crime thriller “The Man from Nowhere” and garnered acclaim and recognition for her appearing in motion pictures and TV dramas for years.
However that modified after Could 18, 2022, when Kim crashed a car right into a tree and {an electrical} transformer whereas driving drunk in southern Seoul. She posted a handwritten apology on Instagram and reportedly compensated round 60 outlets that misplaced energy briefly due to the crash, however that did little to defuse unfavorable protection and he or she struggled to seek out appearing work.
When a Seoul court docket issued a 200 million gained ($139,000) high-quality over the crash in April 2023, Kim expressed her fears concerning the media to reporters, saying many articles about her personal life have been unfaithful.
“I’m too scared to say anything about them,” she mentioned.
Relentless unfavorable protection
Within the wake of Kim’s drunken-driving crash, movie star gossip channels on YouTube started posting unfavorable movies about her personal life, suggesting with out offering proof that she was exaggerating her monetary straits by working at espresso outlets, and arguing that social media posts displaying her socializing with mates meant she wasn’t displaying sufficient regret.
Different entertainers, particularly feminine, have struggled to seek out work after run-ins with the legislation, together with drunken driving or substance abuse, and consultants say lots of them are reluctant to hunt therapy for psychological well being issues like melancholy, fearing additional unfavorable protection.
Kwon Younger-chan, a comedian-turned-scholar who leads a gaggle serving to celebrities with psychological well being points, mentioned celebrities typically really feel helpless when the protection turns unfavorable after spending years fastidiously cultivating their public picture. Kwon, who stayed with Kim’s family throughout a standard three-day funeral course of, mentioned her household is contemplating authorized motion in opposition to a YouTube creator with lots of of hundreds of subscribers for what they describe as groundless assaults on Kim’s personal life.
Peter Jongho Na, a professor of psychiatry on the Yale College of Medication, lamented on Fb that South Korean society had develop into an enormous model of “Squid Game,” the brutal Netflix survival drama, “abandoning people who make mistakes or fall behind, acting as though nothing happened.”
Media blamed for movie star deaths
The Nationwide Police Company mentioned officers discovered no indicators of foul play at Kim’s house and that she left no observe.
However a spate of high-profile deaths has sparked discussions about how information organizations cowl the personal lives of celebrities and whether or not floods of essential on-line feedback are harming their psychological well being. Comparable conversations occurred after the 2008 dying of mega film star Choi Jin-sil; the dying of her former baseball star husband, Cho Sung-min, in 2013; the deaths of Okay-Pop singers Sulli and Goo Hara in 2019; and the dying of “Parasite” actor Lee Solar-kyun in 2023.
Sensational however unsubstantiated claims like from social media are broadly recycled and amplified by conventional media retailers as they compete for viewers consideration, mentioned Hyun-jae Yu, a communications professor at Seoul’s Sogang College.
Scuffling with a pointy decline in conventional media readership, he mentioned, media flip to overlaying YouTube drama as the simplest solution to drive up site visitors, typically skipping the work of reporting and verifying information.
Following the 2019 deaths of Sulli and Goo Hara, which have been broadly attributed to cyberbullying and sexual harassment each within the public and media, lawmakers proposed numerous measures to discourage harsh on-line feedback. These included increasing real-name necessities and strengthening web sites’ necessities to weed out hate speech and false data, however none of those proposed legal guidelines handed.
Reforms stay elusive
South Korean administration companies are getting more and more lively in taking authorized motion to guard their entertainers from on-line bullying. Hybe, which manages a number of Okay-Pop teams together with BTS, publishes common updates about lawsuits it’s submitting in opposition to social media commentators it deems malicious.
However Yu mentioned it is essential for mainstream media corporations to strengthen self-regulation and restrict their use of YouTube content material as information sources. Authorities authorities might additionally compel YouTube and different social media platforms to take larger duty for content material created by their customers, he mentioned, together with actively eradicating problematic movies and stopping creators from monetizing them.
In a press release to The Related Press, YouTube mentioned it’s implementing tips in opposition to threats, harassment and hate speech and channels that repeatedly violate its insurance policies may very well be prevented from monetizing their content material and even be terminated.
Heo Chanhaeng, an government director on the Heart for Media Accountability and Human Rights, mentioned information organizations and web sites ought to take into account shutting down the feedback sections on leisure tales completely.
“Her private life was indiscriminately reported beyond what was necessary,” Heo mentioned. “That’s not a official matter of public curiosity.”
