Texas Watchdog staffers Lee Ann O'Neal, left, and Jennifer Peebles, right, met this afternoon at the Texas Watchdog offices with journalists from South Korea. We really enjoyed the opportunity to meet with these colleagues, who report and write with the TV channel YTN, the Pressian Web site and Yonhap News.

The journalists were invited by the State Department:

"The International Visitor Leadership Program annually brings to the United States approximately 5,000 foreign nationals from all over the world to meet and confer with their professional counterparts and to experience America firsthand."

We discussed the use of social media like twitter and facebook, the ease with which South Koreans access the Internet anywhere (our colleagues say they can log on to the Web via some sort of taxicab system --- how cool!), and the role of journalism in holding government officials accountable. We also exchanged ideas about media ownership models.

We so enjoyed the visit, and we wish our colleagues and their hosts all the best.

Personal postscript: It was meaningful for me on personal and professional levels. I am culturally a Southerner (grew up in West Tennessee) and South Korean by birth. What a treat it was to meet with these folks from the mother country.