Communiqué

David Dayeol Lee headshot

South Korean Freelance Journalist became a well-rounded reporter at WOUB


Posted on:

< < Back to

David DaYeol Lee attended Ohio University from 2016-2018

ATHENS, OH – As a freelance reporter in Seoul, South Korea, David DaYeol Lee has had his work published by organizations like Al Jazeera English, Billboard, Nikkei Asia, and SCMP. And his journalism career is just in its early stages, but he’s already reached one of his life-long goals.

“I was born near Seoul,” said Lee. “I’ve never really called the city my home since I moved to the U.S when I was a little kid. Whenever I visited Seoul for summer break, I would be greatly fascinated by its culture, food and subway system. It created a hope to one day live there. So, I decided to fulfill my dream.”

But journalism wasn’t originally Lee’s career goal. He started out studying political science in Missouri.

“I started to write for the school newspaper,” said Lee. “Shortly after, I started an internship at a state newspaper that reported on the Missouri State Capitol. Entering my last year of my undergraduate degree, I decided to search for graduate journalism programs around the world.”

That’s how he ended up at Ohio University pursing a master’s degree in journalism and it wasn’t long until he found his way to WOUB.

“From the beginning of my time in Athens, I wanted to become involved in a news publication. It was my goal to practice reporting and writing during my two years on campus,” said Lee. “Since I had a few options, it seemed like the fun and challenging road to join a news team that practiced in something that I was not accustomed to. Radio was the furthest from my comfort zone, so I forced myself to the first meeting for newcomers at WOUB.”

While at WOUB, Lee worked on The Outlet podcast team where he planned, wrote, and produced episodes centered on stories happening around Athens. He also helped with the overnight coverage of the 2016 presidential election. The experience was something that helped Lee learn and grow.

“I still remember my stories not being good enough for publication,” said Lee. “Atish Baidya (WOUB News Editor-in-Chief) would tell me why my stories were not newsworthy, or why my writing was not newsy. He advised me on how to look for stories and how to write and sound like a reporter. I think my risk of trying out a completely different mode of reporting paid off. I had experience writing news stories in the past, but my WOUB experience gave me a new lens of looking at stories.”

After Lee left Athens in 2018, he did an internship working at an American newsroom in Jerusalem where he wrote stories about ultra-conservative Jews crafting modern art, the changing political dynamics inside an Israeli college campus, and the cultural repercussions of hosting the World Cup in Qatar. Then he got a full-time job opportunity, which he turned down.

“I was offered a full-time job at a major newsroom in Washington D.C., but I thought it was more important to hear what my instincts were telling me,” said Lee. “I was pretty confident that I had a lot to write about when I arrived in Seoul.”

As a freelance writer in Seoul, Lee has had the opportunity to cover many different kinds of stories including the passenger jet crash in December that killed more than 170 people. He says the experience he gained at WOUB has been invaluable.

“It taught me to trust my gut and to take calculated risks,” said Lee. “The hours of work and experience with different kinds of people provided a valuable steppingstone for me and my career. I think it’s boring to only expose yourself to one type of job/office or type of people. I tried to expose myself to as many different experiences as possible.”