SME Job Media Coverage 'Negative'... Does Not Help Improve Perception

Korea Federation of SMEs Analyzes Issue Report on Media Coverage Trends Related to SME Jobs

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] The media's reporting tendency on jobs in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is negative, which has been analyzed as not particularly helpful in alleviating prejudice against SMEs and the job mismatch between youth and SMEs.

The Korea Federation of SMEs announced an issue report titled "Media Reporting Trends on SME Jobs" on the 13th to analyze the media's reporting trends on SME jobs amid the youth-SME job mismatch and to request social roles.

This issue report monitored articles from a total of 14 media outlets, including six general daily newspapers?KyungHyang Shinmun, Dong-A Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo, Chosun Ilbo, Hankyoreh, and Hankook Ilbo?and eight economic daily newspapers?Maeil Business Newspaper, Money Today, Seoul Economic Daily, Asia Economy, Aju Economy, Financial News, Korea Economic Daily, and Herald Economy?from January to September, all focusing on the theme of "SME jobs."

According to the issue report, negative headlines on SME jobs were more than ten times more frequent than positive ones. Among general daily newspapers, negative cases accounted for 65%, while positive cases were only 6%. For economic daily newspapers, negative cases were 74%, with positive cases at just 6%.

This media reporting tendency is mainly due to the high proportion of management issues such as "damage," "serious," "crisis," and "deterioration" during the COVID-19 crisis in articles on SME jobs. Additionally, the narrow perspective of simply comparing the management performance and working conditions of large corporations and SMEs one-to-one without considering social causes or the uniqueness of individual cases, and viewing the relative differences as natural, is also problematic.

In response, the issue report argued that sufficient and accurate information should be provided to readers to induce rational judgment about SME jobs. It also emphasized that SME jobs should be reported in a balanced manner, linked not only to existing management issues but also to various topics such as social value and self-realization.

Furthermore, it suggested that solving the youth-SME job mismatch problem is not solely an issue for SMEs but a social structural problem that requires comprehensive media coverage through various types of information sources.

Hong Jong-hee, Director of the Youth Hope Job Bureau at the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, "Regardless of the media's intentions, there is a possibility that media coverage could deepen the youth-SME job mismatch, so careful reporting by the media is required." He added, "The Korea Federation of SMEs will continue to make efforts to alleviate prejudice against SMEs and the youth-SME job mismatch through various SME job perception improvement projects."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.