20100526

Broadcaster of the People

The qualities that an authoritarian regime looks for in a TV anchor or anchorman must be very different from those of a free country.

There is this 65-year-old anchorwoman of a North Korean TV station who is branded as "National Treasure" by the Communist regime. She has been given the "Broadcaster of the People" and "Industrious Hero" awards and enjoys special privileges. She is treasured for her idiosyncratic style of reporting the news, extolling the Kim family and blaming the country's "enemies" to an extreme degree. Such "performance", an example of which can be seen on Youtube, would certainly have been regarded as unprofessional in the free world, but then you can't really apply reason and logic to a country like North Korea, can you?

I should also add that such a character is fully admired by a certain ally of Pyongyang. For proof, here is a piece of mobile news by the China Daily:

DPRK anchor enjoys perks
65-year-old Korean Central Television anchorwoman Lee Chun Hee enjoys special accommodation from the DPRK government due to her outstanding work. The veteran who specializes in broadcasting government announcements lives in a modern-style house in Pyongyang and owns a car.

No comments: