Oh yeon-ho "every citizen is a reporter"

Oh yeon-ho, ex-con, journalist and ­­the founder of OhMyNews, has received the Missouri Honour Medal for his contribution to Journalism.

The Missouri School of Journalism was set up in 1908 and was the first ever Journalism school. Since then it has been the breeding ground for many top Journalists.

The South-Korean, who many consider the founder of Citizen Journalism, set up the website OhMyNews in 2000. He was born in 1964, in Gokseng and now lives in Seoul with his wife and two children. Before the website he worked as a journalist for the off-beat monthly magazine Mal until he earned his masters degree in Journalism from Regent University in Virginia.

Oh yeon-ho, who dedicated his award to the citizen journalists and staff of OhMyNews, used the internet to set up his own news organisation as a way of getting away from the powerful media groups who ruled journalism especially in South Korea. The internet was cheap, accessibly and every citizen had the opportunity to access it. His aim was have a “bottom-up” approach to Journalism. Whereby Citizens and non-professionals would submit news articles and comment pieces of what they experienced. As opposed to news papers telling the citizens what the news is.

It started off with just few members of staff relying heavily on the 700 or so “citizens” who were writing for the online newspaper. Since then it has grown enormously, with 65 full time staff, who carry out more editorial roles rather than reporting, and more than 60,000 contributors. The Influence of the website is such that it helped win a general election for the Liberal Roh Moo Hyun in 2002.

Japan, usually the East-Asian trendsetters have taken notice, in an article written for the Japan media review, of the power and influence Oh yeon-ho and his website have. A number of Citizen Journalist websites have been launched since OhMyNews started and the debate over the impact of weather Citizen Journalism will change the whole media industry rages on. Oh yeon-ho, said “Professional reporting styles have their own merit, and citizen reporting has its own merits." But he has also said, “OhmyNews is a kind of public square in which the reform-minded generation meet and talk with each other and find confidence. The message they find here: we are not alone. We can change this society.”