Writers parade against media control

About 400 journalists, writers, cartoonists, Web masters, and media workers on April 13 paraded through the Ginza in Tokyo, protesting against a government bill on media control.

The government is to submit a bill on individual information to the present Diet session on the pretext of restricting inappropriate trading of data on privacy. The bill, however, actually aims at authorizing the government to control the media, including activities of coverage, news reports, and expression.

Hashimoto Katsuhiko, a non-fiction writer, said that personal information should be protected, but not by the authority targeting to control freedom of speech in general. (end)