Internet portals compete for news

Internet portal sites are competing for news, seeing news service as a fresh segment of an already tight tug-of-war. KT, which opened a new portal site “Paran” (www.paran.com) on Saturday, is presenting sports as its trump card. KT Hitel Co., an affiliate of the country’s largest fixed wire telecommunications provider, signed an exclusive contract with Korea’s five largest sports dailies, which cover Korea’s entertainment scenes and scandals as well as sports. The company agreed to pay each company 100 million won ($86,000) a month for two years. Beginning next month, the sports newspapers will stop supplying their articles to other Internet portals. “Our plan is to provide a fresh concept called ‘newstainment’ by combining news with entertainment,” a Paran official said. Yahoo Korea also created a new brand called Yahoo Media, an expansion of its news content. The service’s specialized content includes 11 columns, each written by famous celebrities such as actor Cha In-pyo or folk singer and radio DJ Yang Hee-eun. Nate.com, run by SK Telecom, changed its Web design, increasing the news section from one column to two. Daum Communication, which runs Daum, currently the country’s largest Internet portal site, said it plans to grow into a media group by developing its own reporters. It has 12 reporters now, but plans to employ more in the future, to focus on differentiated news, it said. by Yoon Chang-hee