Articles about BTS tend to be like a box of chocolates; you never know what you are going to get. Sometimes you’re lucky and find one that is insightful and exciting to read and other times a disappointing article hides under the cover of a beautiful photo shoot. But most times, when it comes to the poorly written ones, it feels like an iteration of the same bad article, over and over again.
Recently, an article published on Bloomberg Businessweek felt exactly like that. It provided a whole assortment of problems, but we shall focus on four macro-level issues that have been ever-present through years of media coverage of BTS.
1. Poor Research & Inaccuracies
Many articles have made ARMY wonder if certain publishing companies have any fact-checkers among their teams. From factual inaccuracies to spreading harmful narratives about Asians, K-pop, and the BTS members themselves, some journalists seem to lower their standards when writing these pieces. How could proper research and fact-checking improve this Bloomberg article?
For starters, statements like this one could be edited out or reworked. First, the author offers no proof of Big Hit rules restricting their freedom. Could they exist? Yes. But without supporting evidence, the author shouldn’t present it as a fact. Secondly, there is evidence contradicting the claim. There are plenty of examples of the members having “divisive” opinions, and Jeon Jungkook’s tattoos are visible in the “ON” music video, an official source.
For professional journalists, accuracy, context, and verified sources should be priorities in every single story.
2. Problematic Characterizations of the Fans
The way in which the media characterizes fans, particularly ARMY, takes many forms. Though they are mostly dismissive. Fans are depicted as loud teenagers in one story, and adults wasting their money on an eccentric hobby in the next one. But ARMY is not a monolith. As individuals, we decide what being a fan means to each of us, depending on the different stages of our lives and on our personal circumstances.
The Bloomberg article, however, takes a different direction. It characterizes K-pop fans, particularly ARMY, as an online movement capable of opposing QAnon — supporters of dangerous conspiracy theories. Needless to say, this is a more problematic take than usual. ARMY isn’t a political movement, and it’s risky to paint us as one since these groups can be violent.
It’s fair to discuss a fandom and its members’ actions, but journalists should feel a responsibility to avoid stereotyping and they should always consider the potential harm a story could cause.
3. Misrepresentation on Interviews
Interviews can provide valuable first-hand information about someone, but they can also be a slippery slope for the interviewee. They must be conducted and published ethically since the editing of the answers could change the meaning — partially or completely. In fact, BTS’ and ARMYs’ words have been twisted before in efforts to fit the stories journalists are trying to tell.
Unfortunately, the Bloomberg article is also guilty of this, according to many of its interviewees. Furthermore, the One in an ARMY team released a statement recounting how they were misquoted and manifesting they were “quite saddened that not a single piece of feedback was taken into consideration.”
The downside of these situations is that now many ARMYs understandably distrust interviews, which limits the first-hand information about the fan experience big publications have access to.
4. Portrayal of Minorities
The media is often a reflection of how society perceives minorities. They routinely suffer from othering behaviors, which consist of treating them as different or inferior. The narratives vary depending on the subject; some get infantilized, while others are treated as adults far too early. Asians in particular are commonly seen as emasculated, collective entities rather than individuals, and submissive, among many other harmful stereotypes.
BTS media coverage has been guilty of these damaging portrayals on multiple occasions; it’s like a déjà vu. Cotton-candy pink hair, ridiculous, tightly policed, apolitical — this recurrent word choice makes them seem like pristine bubblegum princes, rather than actual human beings. They are adults with individual worldviews, their masculinity isn’t threatened by their hair color, and their fashion choices aren’t ridiculous just because they don’t match the western expectations.
These diminishing portrayals perpetuate the idea that minority artists can be dismissed as less serious acts than their Western counterparts based on who they are, or for not conforming to traditional expectations. It needs to stop.
We Need Good Journalism
None of these problems are new or exclusive to the Bloomberg article, but that’s exactly why they should concern us. Not only from the ARMY perspective but from the journalistic one as well; poor research, mischaracterization, and misrepresentations, as well as damaging portrayals of minorities, are unacceptable. We don’t expect journalists to pander to us, but we do expect them to do their jobs consciously.
It should be noted that this isn’t a direct response to the Bloomberg article itself, but rather an exploration of problems ARMY has observed for years. This one simply serves as an example. While it presents a different take than usual, it still feels like an iteration of many others that have made the same mistakes. Therefore, there’ll be no score this time. However, it’s fair to say that it would not have fared very well if there was.
DISCLAIMER: We do not own any audio & visual content in this video except for the editing. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THE RIGHTFUL OWNERS. No copyright infringement intended.
Written by Rebeca
Edited by Vera
Checked by Esma
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