“Bold Journal is a quarterly lifestyle magazine for fathers living in this modern era,” said Ghim Chi-ho, the publisher of the magazine. “I believe ‘bold’ courage is strongly needed to live a life where one is fully himself/ herself. So I decided to go with the name ‘Bold Journal’ to emphasize the importance of being bold.”
The journey of Bold Journal all started in 2015. After daringly quitting his job, Ghim hoped to rebuild the relationship between his family and pursue his new goal of narrating the diverse faces of modern fathers. The magazine is open to everyone, but Ghim chose fathers as its main target audience. He wanted to help modern fathers who were also experiencing similar issues, such as not having enough quality time with their families.
“As being one of many modern fathers, I struggled to find balance between work and family life,” Ghim said. “But I noticed there were not many ways to seek professional advice and solutions. Whenever I asked my friends or elders, they simply told me I just have to deal with it. That’s when I decided to start my own magazine where I can help fathers who are facing the same problems.”
One of the main characteristics of Bold Journal is that each issue has its own keyword; for example, the keyword for Issue No.8 is “gender.” Ghim sets the keyword to focus on one subject and provide in-depth contents to readers. He commented that deciding on the keyword is the most difficult yet crucial task to do because the whole content is decided along with the topic and there are already so many independent magazines, they have to think of topics that really matter to readers. His whole team, including designers and marketers, come together and contemplate on whether the issue is going to be actually helpful or interesting for fathers. When the keyword for the issue is decided, they select stories and article items that suit the topic through thorough discussion. After the interviewing and editing stage, designers and translators come in and finish the issue. This whole process for a single issue takes about two months. Another feature of Bold Journal is the English translation placed next to each article for non-Korean speakers. Having both English and Korean texts in a lifestyle magazine is not very common, but Bold Journal does this to reach out to struggling-fathers living in other countries. As there are many fathers who live in tight working schedules around the world, Ghim wishes to give a hand to them as well.
Recently published in March, Bold Journal’s “Issue No.8: Gender” deals with the #MeToo movement, a worldwide phenomenon, and the need for a significant shift in Korea’s views on gender issues. Articles such as “Why We Need to Talk about Gender Sensitization,” “Sex Education at Home,” and “Paternity Leave: The Reality” are published. The issue hopes to give readers insight into gender sensitization and how it is not just about gender equality, but a basic principle for coexistence of work and family. Also, with numerous infographics, it shows the harsh reality of Korea.
“I felt like it was time to talk about ‘gender’ in this issue as reports of sexual violence and harassment filled the whole country,” Ghim said. “The topic is definitely not an easy subject to deal with, but as a father of two kids, I really wanted to raise awareness because I hoped for all children to grow up in a safer, better world.”
Even for Ghim, the word “gender sensitization” itself was extremely difficult to understand at first. However, through the process of publishing the issue, he realized that gender sensitization was not a weird topic that was talked less by people, but rather a concept that everyone was experiencing in daily lives. Ghim hopes the readers resonate with him and point out wrong conventions to make a better world for everyone.
“Although Bold Journal is mainly made for fathers, it could also be a helpful guideline for young couples preparing for marriage or young adults curious of married life,” Ghim said with a smile. “Our goal is to spread messages and stories that would not only be accepted by a small number of people but supported by the majority. We will continue to boldly speak out and address social issues.”
