Unbound Journalism: Interloper Media and the Emergence of Fortune-Telling Journalism

Abstract

This study examines how interloper media are challenging the boundaries of journalism by offering new imaginations of what journalism could be. By conducting a case study of the left-leaning political YouTube channel Rhyu Si-min’s AlliLeo, this study shows how it could create intimate emotional ties between its host/guests and audiences by using unique rhetorical strategies that stress authenticity and sincerity. This study also reveals how the YouTube-based journalistic interloper could successfully position itself within the boundaries of Korean journalism by transforming the traditional norm of journalism as truth-telling and the ideal role of journalists as truth-tellers into uncertainty-resolving and fortune-tellers, respectively. It then critically evaluates the possible social and political implications and the conceivable consequences of this transition for the future of journalism and for society at large.