I was a news junkie during my stay in Korea. Every evening I listened to Armed Forces Radio broadcasts and every Saturday I awaited the delivery of my Time Magazine. Listening to and reading about events in America kept me connected to my homeland. I remember sitting in my friend's room listening to Armed Forces Radio. A cheer went up when Richard Nixon finished his resignation speech. News of home is most cherished when you are abroad.

Sometimes when my Time arrived in my mailbox, it would resemble Swiss Cheese. I would read in the index something like: "Korean government clamps down on college students--. Page 55". I would turn to page 55 and find half a page missing. The other half would be scissored out. Of course, that would make me more curious so I would visit the American Embassy and read the uncensored Time. I often wondered why the third republic would censor articles in English language magazines. Seeing all the cutouts and blacked out lines diminished my opinion of President Pak's government much more than reading about student unrest. A wiser leader would have accepted criticism as a price of rule.

But scissor snipping was only the most obvious method of managing the Korean media. There were more subtle ways. I subscribed to the Daily Korea Herald / English Language Edition. Every few days I would notice an article about President Pak Chung Hee meeting with some high foreign dignitary. Accompanying the article would be a picture of President Pak and the Foreigner. After looking at several of these pictures, I began to notice a pattern. Pak Chung Hee always stood erect with his back to the camera. The dignitary always bowed. I began making mental note of President Pak pictures and sure enough it was always the same. Now we know that in a proper Korean greeting each person bows to the other, but I never saw that. The newspaper always published the powerful visitor bowing to President Pak. Sometimes "a picture is worth a thousands words". Sometimes a picture is not worth two cents.