Those who read newspapers are more talkative than those who don’t, the Korea Press Foundation’s research showed.

The research categorized 1,832 people between the ages of 19 and 64 based on their conversational activities and media usage. Those who engaged more frequently in conversation showed higher usage of media, according to the survey conducted from Nov. 1-Dec. 6 by Hankook Research.

The foundation, which commissioned the survey, said those who were categorized in the upper 30 percent in terms of conversational activeness read more newspapers than those who were in the lower 30 percent. And 62.2 percent of those categorized in the upper 30 percent read newspapers whereas only 49.6 percent in the lower category read newspapers.

Those who read newspapers and those who used the internet also showed difference in the way they viewed society. For both groups, newspaper readers and internet users both showed high amount of interest in current affairs and social issues but newspaper readers were more positive in their view of society than those who used the internet.

Among newspaper readers, 42.6 percent preferred political and social news whereas only 36.1 percent of Internet users liked the same topics. When asked how much they liked sharing the news with others, higher percentage of newspaper readers answered positively with 40.6 percent whereas 36.4 of internet users answered positively to the question.

Avid newspaper readers answered markedly positively in their prospects for Korea’s future, the survey showed. Of them 52.1 percent said Korea’s future is bright and 27.7 percent agreed that Korea was a society where law and order was in place. Other media users answered less enthusiastically to the same question.

By Yun Suh-young (syun@heraldcorp.com)
Intern Reporter
Edited by Rob York