The Internet has spawned a new type of journalism in South Korea -- an increasingly popular news Web site where doctors, students, professors and housekeepers work as "citizen reporters"...

(05-13) 22:44 PDT SEOUL, South Korea (AP) --

The Internet has spawned a new type of journalism in South Korea -- an increasingly popular news Web site where doctors, students, professors and housekeepers work as "citizen reporters."

Three-year-old Internet news service Ohmynews -- where the public reports on everything from local happenings to gossip and national politics -- has become so popular that Roh Moo-hyun granted it his first interview after being inaugurated as president in February.

"With Ohmynews, we wanted to say goodbye to 20th century journalism where people only saw things through the eyes of the mainstream, conservative media," said its editor and founder, Oh Yeon-ho.

"Our main concept is every citizen can be a reporter. We put everything out there and people judge the truth for themselves."

But Ohmynews's methods have raised concerns about the quality and objectivity of its reporting which, according to its own figures, is read by an estimated 1.2 million people daily.

"Marketing people and activists can pose as journalists to promote their own products and ideas," said Choi Joon-suk, a senior editor at South Korea's largest printed newspaper, Chosun Ilbo. "The quality of the online media is a huge problem."

Oh disagrees. All stories are fact checked and edited by professional reporters before being posted on the Internet, he said. Only two stories have led to defamation cases.

More than 26,300 readers have registered to be citizen reporters. They write about 200 stories a day.

Ohmynews this week published a string of articles ranging from Roh's trip to Washington to discuss the North Korean nuclear crisis to some more local matters.

One citizen reporter wrote a story alleging the nephew of a provincial mayor illegally drew a loan from a farmers' cooperative.

Another wrote a first-person account of her husband preparing her a birthday breakfast.

It begins: "Yesterday was my birthday. My darling husband got up early and I could hear him bustling about in the kitchen preparing the breakfast for me..."

About 80 percent of the electronic newspaper's content comes from the public and the rest from Ohmynews's team of 38 professional reporters and editors.

Pay for a citizen reporter's article ranges from nothing to $16, depending on its importance.

Ohmynews's influence was highlighted after an American military armored vehicle ran down and killed two South Korean schoolgirls last June.

While the accident attracted relatively little attention in the mainstream press initially, Ohmynews was aggressive in its coverage. The stories prompted one "citizen reporter" to call for protests.

The idea snowballed and South Korea experienced some of its largest anti-U.S. demonstrations in years and calls for a review of the U.S.-South Korea military alliance.

Mainstream newspapers later criticized Ohmynews, questioning whether it was ethical for a so-called reporter to incite demonstrations.

The fast rise in popularity of Ohmynews, and other online news services, is partly attributable to South Korea's high Internet use. About 70 percent of homes have high-speed broadband Internet access connections -- more than anywhere else in the world.

Paik Hak-soon, a political analyst at the Sejong Institute research center, said "the mainstream press still has the ear of the majority of the public. But things are changing."

"Twenty- and 30-year-olds are getting their news from the Internet," he said.