Jenna Gibson, Ph.D. Candidate
gibsonj@uchicago.edu
Graduate Student
University of Chicago
About Me:
Jenna is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago, specializing in International Relations. She was a regular contributor to the Korea column for The Diplomat for three years, and has also written about Korean social issues for other outlets including Foreign Policy, NPR, and the Carnegie Endowment. She speaks regularly on these issues as well, including for organizations like The Korea Society and the Center for American Progress, as well as in media outlets such as The New Yorker, BBC, and Arirang News. Her research interests include: diplomatic rhetoric, public and cultural diplomacy, soft power, South Korean politics and social issues, and U.S.-Korea relations.Before pursuing her doctorate, Jenna was Director of Communications at the Korea Economic Institute of America (KEI). She previously lived for two years in Cheonan, South Korea as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. She earned a Master of Science in Foreign Service degree from Georgetown University in 2015, and a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2011.
Research Interests
Political Communication
Foreign Policy
Public Diplomacy
Korean Politics
Rhetoric
Countries of Interest
South Korea
United States
Publications:
Journal Articles:
North Korea has received a great deal of coverage in the American news media due in part to its near constant nuclear and ICBM tests in 2016, the related internet feud between the North Korean state media and U.S. President Donald Trump, and the subsequent diplomatic détente leading up to the historic Singapore Summit in 2018. The North’s bellicosity was almost universally denounced by the international community, a narrative also reflected in American media coverage of the events. However, the superficial uniformity of the response belied the diversity present in American news media framing of North Korea (and its counterpart, South Korea). In spite of the apparent congruence in attitude among different news media agencies, North Korea has been framed in multiple and contested ways, as both outmoded and impotent but also modern and threatening. These divergences are important because consumers of different news outlets may subsequently view North Korea differently and, therefore, support different policies in response to Pyongyang’s actions. Through a content analysis of the text of more than 2,500 online news pieces from five American news outlets throughout the year 2016, this study traces the varied terrain of American news media coverage of Korea (North and South), and explicates the ways in which this coverage juxtaposes long-existing tropes with new modes of coverage. Despite its importance as a geopolitical hotspot with the potential for a catastrophic war that would likely involve not just the Korean peninsula itself, but also China and the United States, no systematic analysis has yet been conducted of American news media coverage of Korea. Thus, this paper addresses a critical research gap and offers important insights for scholars and practitioners.
Book Chapters:
As COVID-19 runs rampant across the globe, devastating many industries, entertainment has been particularly hard-hit. But Korean entertainment companies have adapted quickly to both generate income and connect fans with their favourite artists in new ways, the culmination of years of work to expand digital outreach, making the industry more poised to make the switch when COVID hit. With a variety of live and pre-filmed interactive events and concerts, global K-pop fans ironically have more opportunity to participate directly in more events than ever before. But while online content has expanded access in many ways, it has also highlighted what it means to be a fan and to participate in a highly online, global fandom. In this paper, we use a series of in-depth interviews with international K-pop fans who have participated in new, online forms of K-pop content to explore how the COVID-19 crisis has shifted priorities and access for fans.
This chapter explores visual representations of North Korea across a range of American news media outlets. Drawing on literature from visual framing and media studies, it examines the visuals employed in news media discourse surrounding North Korea, focusing on photographs and political cartoons, as well as cover stories from Newsweek magazine. This chapter finds that North Korea is visually represented most commonly through images of Kim Jong-un, and that Kim is in turn usually featured with missiles. In addition to delineating between the types of visual arguments made using images portraying North Korea, this chapter also discusses the metonymic functions of these images, through which the whole of North Korea is seen to be represented and encapsulated by a small number of specific images. The implications of the coverage are also discussed.
In early April 2018, a delegation of South Korean musical artists performed in Pyongyang, North Korea as part of a prominent public diplomacy initiative aimed to attract positive attention ahead of the first summit meeting between President Moon Jae-in and Chairman Kim JongUn later that month. By inviting Hallyu stars like Red Velvet and Baek Ji Young, this event successfully tapped into global fan communities, smoothly bringing political content into the consciousness of K-pop fans around the globe. But how did those fans respond? In this paper, I scrape more than 4,000 comments left on official YouTube clips from the concert and conduct a sentiment analysis to determine their emotional valence. Overall, I find that fans responded positively to the concert footage, cheering on their favorite singers and even empathizing with some of the songs’ emotional lyrics. The only exception to the positive tone was when clips included footage of the North Korean audience, creating a dissonance between fun performances on stage and stoic viewers in the seats. This analysis thus argues that integrating pop culture strategically into public diplomacy campaigns can be highly successful, but cautions that these initiatives can sometimes highlight cultural differences while attempting to bridge them.
Other:
With Korean pop culture continuing to sweep the world, the South Korean government must now decide how it wants to leverage its world-famous idols to generate soft power.
K-pop is a multibillion-dollar industry—and one that has long grappled with how it treats its women, from charges of sexual assault to backlash against female stars who dared to read a feminist novel. Right now it’s caught up in a sweeping scandal that has left several major stars facing accusations of arranging illegal sexual services for wealthy investors, filming explicit videos of women without their consent, and sharing those videos with each other in a now infamous chat room. That’s a contrast to K-pop’s innocent image—but it’s just the most visible example of questions about women’s role in society that South Korea has been grappling intensely with for a year.
What began as a K-pop scandal has warped into something far worse. South Korea’s prosecutors have brought charges against several famous singers, including former heartthrobs Seungri and Jung Joon-young. Seungri is accused of procuring prostitutes for potential investors through his club, Burning Sun, and Jung has been charged with taking explicit videos of women, filmed without their consent, and sharing them with other celebrities in a now infamous chatroom.
A year after #MeToo took root in South Korea, the movement has sparked wide-reaching conversations on sexual harassment, domestic assault, and the role of women in Korean society. But until recently, the concrete results of the movement had remained limited. In the last month, however, three major court cases involving high-profile men accused of abuse showed the concrete fruits of the movement, and re-energized supporters to continue their fight in 2019.
Last week, a Japanese TV show announced it was cancelling an appearance by K-pop megagroup BTS, citing an incident last year where one of the group’s members wore a t-shirt celebrating Korean Independence Day that also included the image of an atomic bomb explosion. Amid growing backlash, the group’s management sent out an apology this week, saying they would be reaching out to affected groups, including associations of atomic bomb survivors, to apologize directly.
Media Appearances:
TV Appearances:
War is ravaging Ukraine. What can we expect for the future of global diplomacy?
Expert's take on China's crackdown on S. Korean entertainers
Experts Explain How K-Pop Exploded in America | Expert Perspectives
Jenna Gibson discusses why K-pop has gone global and the recent scandals in the industry
Radio Appearances:
BTS: Who made Korea cool?
The K-pop sex scandal reveals a 'disgusting' practice of sharing spy cam 'porn': journalist
Newspaper Quotes:
Moon’s party set for coronavirus boost in South Korea election
K-Pop stars named in growing South Korea sex scandal
The Sex Scandals Shaking K-Pop And A Reckoning Over How South Korea Regards Women
Translating Trump and Kim: Spare a Thought for the Interpreters at the June 12 Summit
The View From Seoul On Trump-Kim Meeting: It May Never Happen, But It's Worth A Try
Korean Entertainment Thrives On Beneficial But Tense Relationship With Chinese Investments
K-pop drives boom in Korean language lessons