Covering the hermit regime: A comparison of North Korea coverage at the Associated Press and NK News

How do traditional and new media outlets cover North Korea? This article analyzes content at NK News - a US-based niche news site - and the AP in 2014. I look at the 'softness' and 'hardness' of content as well as thematic diversity. Methodologically, I use quantitative content analysis as well as in-depth interviews. I find the AP coverage to be softer in theme than NK News and also find more diversity of perspectives at the latter. Although the AP is one of only five international media outlets with Pyongyang bureaus, it was short-staffed, with most of the articles written by a single person in the capital. In contrast, NK News had 26 people writing from three continents, including people with expertise in diplomacy, the military, and technology. Despite the advantages of having physical presence in Pyongyang, AP coverage did little more than to cover just the basics, with stories limited to a handful of themes like sports and the arrests of Americans in North Korea.