| Summary/Abstract |
American journalists radically changed the tenor of the media coverage about South Korea during the seventies. By reporting instances of human rights abuses perpetrated by South Korea’s Park Chung-hee government, they brought into question the longstanding U.S. support of the Park government. Their reporting played a central role in the 1976 congressional probe of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA). The controversy that emerged from the investigation helped generate public skepticism for the Park government and create public support for the confrontational policies toward South Korea adopted by the Carter administration. Their role in the KCIA investigation suggests journalists were important actors in the emergence of human rights diplomacy during the seventies. Through their documentation of human rights abuses in places like South Korea, they contributed to wider efforts to halt U.S. support for authoritarian regimes and make human rights a factor in U.S. foreign policy.
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