• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.67
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• pp.88-118
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• 2014

This study attempted to clarify (1) the meaning of 'people's livelihood (Minsaeng, 民生)' conveyed by the newspapers in Korean society and the specific matter it refers to, and (2) consider the discourse formed by the newspapers and what does and does not change in that discourse over the passage of time. Editorials were classified and analyzed based on the framework of Fairclough's critical discourse analysis(CDA). It was clear, from the political perspective, that the discourse was respectively formed and changed for each administration. The discourse on 'people's livelihood' was critical and at the same time generally negative, because it dealt with the important social incidents or controversies of the time. The discourse on 'people's livelihood' related to the massive social streams of Korea's democratization and globalization process. Whereas the discourse on 'people's livelihood' in the 1990s, seen from an economic perspective, tried to resolve labor strikes, inflation rate, housing problem, and financial crisis. The discourse in the 2000s changed to issues ranging from economic growth and distribution to bi-polarization problem, job creation, abolishment of non-regular employments, etc. The meaning of 'people's livelihood' produced in the editorials of the major daily newspapers is different from the word's dictionary definition as 'the people's lives'.