T A B L E__T A L K Good lit mags: Where the hell are they? Chime in, in the Media section of Table Talk - - - - - - - - - - R E C E N T L Y The People are always wrong By David Futrelle Ed Koch jazzes up and dumbs down democracy on the new, improved "People's Court" (01/13/97) How I learned to stop worrying and love Gloria Allred By Frank Sanello She may be the Queen of Overexposure, but hard-charging feminist attorney Gloria Allred is on the side of the (loudmouthed) angels (01/12/97) Uncle Sam to Unabomber By Bruce Shapiro Crazy or not, we're coming to kill you (01/09/97) Sleaze, smears and spleen: A Novak way of knowing By Eric Alterman Robert Novak has exhumed a slanderous lie that I.F. Stone was a Communist spy (01/08/97) Under the Covers By James Poniewozik 1997's wrap-ups, unwrapped (01/07/97) - - - - - - - - - - BROWSE THE MEDIA CIRCUS ARCHIVES

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - page 2 of 2 Following the suggestion of the remarkably wise and virtuous Kim Jong Il, I clicked onto the Web site of the Korean Central News Agency. A counter informed me that I was guest No. 228,032 at the site, a number probably as reliable as the official estimates of the number of North Koreans currently starving. A notice warns that "reuse of any material on this home page is strictly prohibited without permission," proof at least that the North Koreans have begun to adopt Western litigious customs. A modest two-color banner runs across the top of the site stating simply "Korean News." It may well be the only banner on the Web not trying to hawk a product, unless you consider the dictatorship of the proletariat a product. (Click through only according to your means, comrade.) As it turns out, there's not much hard news on the site. It doesn't even mention the recent election of a new president in South Korea, preferring instead its own top story, "Indian embassy officials visit Korean Revolutionary Museum." A story headlined "KBS Precipitates its Doom" sharply denounces a TV drama being aired by the South Korean Broadcast System (KBS) that is critical of the North. While not going into the details of the alleged slander, the article assures readers that "Our people are advancing towards the final victory, while triumphantly meeting all manner of challenges, successfully overcoming trials, and steadfastly maintaining the banner of Socialism," a phrase Communist editors must have on a speed key for random insertion into stories. The article concludes, "If KBS continues producing the anti-north drama, ignoring our warning, it will meet a miserable end." That's a welcome relief from the "Only time will tell" endings favored by American wire services. Even though the stories kick capitalist butt, the site doesn't begin to exploit the visual potential of the Web. Most of it is drab and gray, so like Stalinist architecture. But a linked site, called The People's Korea, is a better indication of the growing sophistication of the North Korean propaganda machine. "The People's Korea" is a Tokyo-based semi-monthly print magazine devoted to Korean affairs. The magazine's Web site was launched last July and has most of the features that Western Web surfers have grown to expect: full-color graphics, links to related pages (though none outside of the People's Korea domain), a spurt of animation and vituperative denunciation of anyone who disagrees with the people running the site. In an unintentionally candid admission, People's Korea describes itself as the "unofficial mouthpiece" of the North Korean government. From the home page, visitors can click to a variety of short articles grouped under headings such as "Politics," "Foreign Policy" "North-South Relations" and "Japan's War Crimes." One article quotes a story that appeared in the Washington Post (which American readers know as the unofficial mouthpiece of the Republic of Inside the Beltway) blaming the government in the south for stalling peace talks between the two Koreas. Having the Washington Post do your dirty work for you shows a degree of guile that's new to the usually ham-fisted propagandists in Pyonyang. There is also a Q&A with an official from North Korea's agricultural production commission. In response to a question about how the harvest is going, the official replies, "We are developing a campaign under the slogan, 'Do not waste even a single grain when you harvest in threshing crops.'" Perhaps fearful that David Brinkley may appropriate the slogan on behalf of Archer Daniels Midland, the catch phrase is followed by a "tm," for trademark. Another article quotes an item that appeared in Wired, the unofficial mouthpiece of digital conspicuous consumption. The article describes the move by the South Korean government to block access to the California-based GeoCities service because it contained an Australian site critical of the South Korean regime. The story quotes a critic as saying, "People using the Internet can now see the true nature of (South Korean President) Kim Young Sam's so-called government, the biggest enemy of freedom and basic human rights in the world." The Web site's editors fail to mention the state of freedom, human rights or Internet access for people in North Korea, not to mention the country's three-year famine, the string of high-level defections and increasing diplomatic isolation. But who can blame them? The North Koreans aren't the only ones on the Internet peddling half-truths, deliberate distortions and self-serving omissions. Are they any less forthcoming than, say, Steve Case's latest letter about the exciting improvements at AOL or the sex sites that pledge "hundreds of free pics" or the spam e-mails promising to make you a millionaire in 20 minutes? And isn't the popularity of Microsoft's Internet Explorer really due not to monopolistic practices, but to the Unanimous Will and Desire of the American People? SALON | Jan. 14, 1998 Tom McNichol is a San Francisco writer.