16권2호 - Social Construction of Euthanasia in Korea The euthanasia is a controversial issue in Korea. The recent Supreme Court rulings accepted the “passive euthanasia.” Some religious groups strongly oppose to this decision. There are still debates on the scope of legally permissible euthanasia. In this kind of value-ridden issues, the public opinions are important factors for policy makers. However, the target group of euthanasia tends to be a minority and its opinions and interests and values are likely to be ignored in the social discussion. So giving them the chance of participation in the formation of social construction is important. This research tried to classify the target group of euthanasia by deciding whether euthanasia and its target group are viewed positively or negatively by mass media. This paper examines the coverage of euthanasia by liberal and conservative newspapers, and determined whether the ideological slant of these newspapers influence their attitudes on euthanasia issue. In the process of answering this question, this study gave some recommendations for the policy makers to enhance the participation of target groups in the formation social construction of this issue. □ 주제어: euthanasia, value-ridden issue, mass media
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