[Edaily Reporter Han Jeon-jin ] The “Media Sharing Bus” program, supported by GS Retail(007070), has marked its 10th year of operation. This initiative visits schools and welfare facilities nationwide to provide hands-on media experiences, and the cumulative number of participants is expected to reach approximately 23,000 by the end of this year.

GS Retail announced on the 8th that the Media Sharing Bus, operated in partnership with the Viewers’ Media Foundation, is scheduled to run a total of 660 sessions nationwide by the end of this year. The Media Sharing Bus is a corporate social responsibility initiative in which a vehicle equipped with broadcast production equipment and facilities visits schools and welfare facilities directly to provide media education and hands-on experiences.

In 2016, GS Retail contributed 400 million won to support the production of the “Media Sharing Bus”—a converted 5-metric-ton truck—to expand access to media education. After beginning pilot operations in November 2017, the program launched full-scale educational activities the following year; cumulative funding for operational expenses has reached 315 million won as of this year.

Initially, the program focused on schools in island and mountainous regions, such as Ulleungdo, Jeongseon in Gangwon Province, and Sinan in Jeollanam-do, but later expanded its reach to include schools, libraries, and welfare facilities in the Seoul metropolitan area. The educational programs have also expanded from TV news production, radio broadcasting, and animation dubbing to include artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) experiences. The AI and VR education programs, which were introduced on a pilot basis last year, have been operating as regular programs since this year.

Participant satisfaction has also been high. A satisfaction survey conducted last year among approximately 2,400 participants recorded an average score of 92.2 out of 100. GS Retail plans to operate the Media Sharing Bus 50 times by the end of this year.

Bae Jae-sung, Head of the Business Support Division at GS Retail, stated, “The Media Sharing Bus is a corporate social responsibility initiative we launched as a company in the broadcasting industry to enable more people to experience media firsthand,” adding, “It is highly significant that over the past 10 years, we have expanded media education opportunities across regions and generations.”