Booze, Bed-Sharing and Betrayal Are Pillars of Korean Journalism
Journalism training in Korea has all the hallmarks of a good reality show: Cub reporters must drink themselves silly, stay awake around the clock, sleep together, and stab one another in the back. It makes Columbia look like Coney Island.
South Korea's brutal, overcrowded j-hazing programs bring chaos and body odor to police stations and wherever else cub reporters congregate, according to a Los Angeles Times article, a situation exacerbated by "marathon boozing sessions... on the theory that plying sources with drinks will be part of [cub reporters'] routine." Trainee reporters also sleep ten-deep on 10'-by-12' platforms, and are ordered to "produce scoops at the expense of their fellow cubs." This gives Korea the world's most realistic journalism school until the Steve Dunleavy Center for Communications opens in 2011, inside Langan's bar. (Via)
(Pic: Just another day in South Korea's parliament. This 2009 brawl sent two people to the hospital. Who's ready to ask one of these guys for an interview??)