BTS concert numbers

What do the widely different BTS crowd estimates say about the media? Readers may have noticed that local and international news reports in the lead-up to the BTS comeback concert last weekend said that 260,000 fans would be descending on downtown Seoul, making it one of the most thrilling non-protest events in the city center since the 2002 World Cup. The numbers were so huge — reminiscent of major protests in recent years — that the president ordered safety measures and the terrorist alert level was raised to “caution.” But then reports on the day, you will have noticed, went with the organizer’s claim of 104,000 attendees. This was reported without any “disappointment” or “less-than-expected” language. But even that may have been way off. You may have missed this because it was tucked away in a Yonhap news story that did not get much pick-up at first, but the official police figure was just 42,000 participants. The striking gap between the forecast, claimed and official crowd sizes prompted the familiar narrative about journalism: that media are unreliable, that their

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