Editing North Korea (section)

===Media===
{{Main|Media of North Korea}}
[[File:Pyongyang TV Tower 01.JPG|thumb|[[Pyongyang TV Tower]] designed after [[Ostankino Tower]] in Moscow]]
Government policies towards [[film]] are no different from those applied to other arts—motion pictures serve to fulfill the targets of "social education". Some of the most influential films are based on historic events (''An Jung-geun shoots Itō Hirobumi'') or folk tales (''[[Hong Gildong jeon|Hong Gildong]]'').<ref name="LCCS Lit"/> Most movies have predictable propaganda story lines which make cinema an unpopular entertainment; viewers only see films that feature their favorite actors.{{Sfn|Country Study|2009|p=114}} Western productions are only available at private showings to high-ranking Party members,{{Sfn|Country Study|2009|p=94}} although the 1997 film ''[[Titanic (1997 film)|Titanic]]'' is frequently shown to university students as an example of Western culture.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/feb/21/pyongyang-goes-pop-north-korea-indie|title=Pyongyang goes pop: Inside North Korea's first indie disco|last=Hoban|first=Alex|date=22 February 2011|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=14 July 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140720051523/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/feb/21/pyongyang-goes-pop-north-korea-indie|archive-date=20 July 2014}}</ref> Access to foreign media products is available through smuggled [[DVD]]s and television or radio broadcasts in border areas.<ref name="intermedia">{{cite web|title=A Quiet Opening: North Koreans in a Changing Media Environment|url=http://audiencescapes.org/sites/default/files/A_Quiet_Opening_FINAL_InterMedia.pdf|publisher=InterMedia|access-date=19 January 2013|first1=Nat|last1=Kretchun|first2=Jane|last2=Kim|date=10 May 2012|quote=The primary focus of the study was on the ability of North Koreans to access outside information from foreign sources through a variety of media, communication technologies and personal sources. The relationship between information exposure on North Koreans' perceptions of the outside world and their own country was also analyzed.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114225639/http://audiencescapes.org/sites/default/files/A_Quiet_Opening_FINAL_InterMedia.pdf|archive-date=14 January 2013}}</ref> Western films like ''[[The Interview]]'', ''[[Charlie's Angels (2000 film)|Charlie's Angels]]'', and the aforementioned ''Titanic'' are just a few films that have been smuggled across the borders of North Korea, allowing for access to the North Korean citizens.<ref>''Harvard International Review''. Winter 2016, Vol. 37 Issue 2, pp. 46–50.</ref><ref>Crocker, L. (22 December 2014). North Korea's Secret Movie Bootleggers: How Western Films Make It Into the Hermit Kingdom.</ref>

North Korean media are under some of the strictest government control in the world. The [[censorship in North Korea]] encompasses all the information produced by the media. Monitored heavily by government officials, the media is strictly used to reinforce ideals approved by the government.<ref name=":1">Journalists, C. T. (25 April 2017). "North Korean censorship".</ref> There is no freedom of press in North Korea as all the media is controlled and filtered through governmental censors.<ref name=":1" /> Freedom of the press in 2017 was 180th out of 180 countries in [[Reporters Without Borders]]' annual [[Press Freedom Index]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=North Korea|publisher=Reporters Without Borders|date=2017 |access-date=28 April 2017|url=https://rsf.org/en/north-korea |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170426113250/https://rsf.org/en/north-korea |archive-date=26 April 2017}}</ref> According to [[Freedom House]], all media outlets serve as government mouthpieces, all journalists are party members and listening to foreign broadcasts carries the threat of the death penalty.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2013/north-korea#.U8Q34ZSSySo|title=Freedom of the Press: North Korea|publisher=Freedom House |access-date=14 July 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140707210657/http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2013/north-korea |archive-date=7 July 2014}}</ref> The main news provider is the [[Korean Central News Agency]]. All 12 major [[Newspapers in North Korea|newspapers]] and 20 periodicals, including ''[[Rodong Sinmun]]'', are published in the capital.<ref>{{cite book|last=Pervis|first=Larinda B.|title=North Korea Issues: Nuclear Posturing, Saber Rattling, and International Mischief|publisher=Nova Science Publishers|year=2007|page=22|isbn=978-1-60021-655-8}}</ref>

There are three state-owned TV stations. Two of them broadcast only on weekends and the [[Korean Central Television]] is on air every day in the evenings.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6037715.stm|title=Meagre media for North Koreans|work=[[BBC News]]|date=10 October 2006 |access-date=14 July 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140820085153/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6037715.stm |archive-date=20 August 2014}}</ref> [[Uriminzokkiri]] and its associated [[YouTube]] and [[Twitter]] accounts distribute imagery, news and video issued by government media.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/16/north-korea-twitter-propa_n_682920.html|title=North Korea Uses Twitter, YouTube For Propaganda Offensive|work=The Huffington post|date=17 August 2010 |access-date=14 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007062045/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/16/north-korea-twitter-propa_n_682920.html |archive-date=7 October 2014}}</ref> The [[Associated Press]] opened the first Western all-format, full-time bureau in Pyongyang in 2012.<ref>{{cite news|last=Calderone|first=Michael|title=Associated Press North Korea Bureau Opens As First All-Format News Office In Pyongyang|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/16/associated-press-north-korea-bureau-pyongyang_n_1208159.html |access-date=26 March 2012|newspaper=The Huffington Post|date=14 July 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416013204/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/16/associated-press-north-korea-bureau-pyongyang_n_1208159.html |archive-date=16 April 2012}}</ref>

[[Media coverage of North Korea]] has often been inadequate as a result of the country's isolation. Stories like Kim Jong Un executing his ex-girlfriend or feeding his uncle to a pack of hungry dogs have been circulated by foreign media as truth despite the lack of a credible source.<ref name="transfixed">{{cite news|first=Chad|last=O'Carroll|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10554198/North-Koreas-invisible-phone-killer-dogs-and-other-such-stories-why-the-world-is-transfixed.html|title=North Korea's invisible phone, killer dogs and other such stories – why the world is transfixed|work=The Telegraph|date=6 January 2014 |access-date=14 July 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008074624/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10554198/North-Koreas-invisible-phone-killer-dogs-and-other-such-stories-why-the-world-is-transfixed.html |archive-date=8 October 2014}}</ref> Many of the claims originate from the South Korean [[right-wing]] newspaper ''[[The Chosun Ilbo]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/did-kim-jong-un-execute-his-ex-girlfriend-2013-8|title=Why You Shouldn't Necessarily Trust Those Reports Of Kim Jong-un Executing His Ex-Girlfriend|last1=Taylor|first1=Adam|date=29 August 2013|website=businessinsider.com|publisher=Business Insider |access-date=19 January 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140119050406/http://www.businessinsider.com/did-kim-jong-un-execute-his-ex-girlfriend-2013-8 |archive-date=19 January 2014}}</ref> Max Fisher of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' has written that "almost any story [on North Korea] is treated as broadly credible, no matter how outlandish or thinly sourced".<ref>{{cite news|last=Fisher|first=Max|date=3 January 2014|title=No, Kim Jong Un probably didn't feed his uncle to 120 hungry dogs|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/01/03/no-kim-jong-un-probably-didnt-feed-his-uncle-to-120-hungry-dogs/|newspaper=Washington Post|location=Washington, DC |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726032316/https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/01/03/no-kim-jong-un-probably-didnt-feed-his-uncle-to-120-hungry-dogs/ |archive-date=26 July 2014}}</ref> Occasional deliberate disinformation on the part of North Korean establishments further complicates the issue.<ref name="transfixed"/>