광장 정치와 집회 유튜버의 활동 : 2019년 태극기 집회 참여관찰을 통해 본 유튜버의 역할과 정체성 (The Role of the YouTuber in Square Politics : A participant observation of the 2019 Taegukgi rally YouTubers in South Korea)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국언론학회
· 수록지 정보 : 한국언론학보 / 65권 / 6호 / 147 ~ 201페이지
· 저자명 : 이종명

초록

본 연구는 전통적 뉴스 미디어의 대체를 주장하는 유튜버에 주목한다. 정치와 미디어를 아우르는 헤게모니 지형 변화를 상징하는 변곡점으로써 박근혜 전 대통령의 탄핵과 그 이후를 주요 국면으로 삼는다. 그중 기존 정치에 대한 반발로서 광장 정치의 목소리에 집중한다. 태극기 집회 참가자이자 소셜 미디어 생산자인 유튜버의 활동이 주요 쟁점이다. 광장이라는 정치 공간에서의 의사소통이 여느 때보다 활발히 이루어지는 지금, 유튜버가 생산하는 콘텐츠와 집회 현장에서의 발화 및 행위를 미디어 의례로 탐문할 필요성이 제기된다. 연구는 첫째, 광장 정치로써 태극기 집회와 집회 유튜버의 활동을 참여관찰을 통해 파악한다. 둘째, 심층 인터뷰를 통해 유튜버의 자발적이면서 한편으로는 정당에 의해 동원되는 활동의 정치적 맥락을 살핀다. 셋째, 이를 통해 확립된 유튜버의 정체성과 그 의미를 이해한다. 2022년 대통령 선거를 앞두고 팬데믹 이후 정치적 목소리가 광장에 집결될 가능성이 제기되는 상황에서, 집회 현장 유튜버의 콘텐츠와 활동의 이유를 살펴본다는 데 그 의의가 있다.

영어초록

This study focused on the role of YouTuber during the Taegukgi (South Korean national flag) rallies in South Korea in 2019. As YouTubers insist on replacing traditional media, communication of the politics of public space is more active than ever. Under this circumstance, there is a need to investigate the content produced by YouTubers and their messages and actions with media rituals. The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) explore the role of YouTubers in Taegukgi rallies, referred to as square politics, through participatory observation, (2) examine the political context of the activities mobilized in part voluntarily by YouTubers, and partly by political parties through in-depth interviews, and (3) understand the process of the YouTubers’ identity formation and its meaning. Ever since YouTube emerged as an innovative platform for posting and communicating with online video over ten years ago, it has replaced the legacy media and became a significant vehicle representing political views. Based on this current media environment, YouTubers have simply discarded the legacy media’s reports and came to have a firm belief that YouTube would play a significant role in delivering the growing voices of the protesters in square politics. The complexity of contemporary politics in the South Korean society ― the turmoil after democratization, around severe polarization of political powers ― has caused the street YouTubers, mostly comprising the Korean older generation to initiate what they believed as patriotic activism. The YouTubers has kept consistently appealing ‘the fraud of presidential impeachment’. Such YouTubers’ activities have escalated wrath and anger against the legacy media, accused of the left-wing. The religious narrative of ‘immaculate Park Geun-hye’ has become the common feeling among themselves. The right-wing politicians including the ‘Our Republican Party’ has aggressively collaborated with the YouTubers. Moreover, they ‘ten million innocence movement’ and kept insisting ‘the impeachment of disgraced former president Park’ to accelerate not only the rally but also their political project across the nation. To be specific, based on dedicated support from the party, these YouTubers have been empowered to report in terms of the live broadcasts on demand of audiences at the front line of the rally. YouTubers have changed the way people consume news content, more importantly getting involved in the production related to Taegukgi rally as the only way to deliver the growing truth that they believed. In conclusion, the YouTubers in the square have played a key role in propagating content tailored to the needs of their favorable viewers as well as the YouTubers themselves and consolidated their identities. With the possibility of political voices gathering in the square after the pandemic ahead of the 2022 presidential election, it is meaningful to examine the contents and reasons driving the political activities of YouTubers at the square.

참고자료

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