Privacy bills controlling media must be reviewed -- Akahata editorial, May 21 (excerpts)

Diet discussions on the controversial bills on "personal information protection" have started.

These government-proposed bills will apply to the media, political parties, and individuals on privacy.

The government is trying to convince the public of the need to protect privacy and human rights, but it wants to pave the way for its interference in the freedom of speech and expression.

This is why newspapers, broadcasting stations, publishers, and writers are united in opposition to these bills.

The media on their own, not the authority, should regulate abuse of human rights in overly excessive press coverage.

When the drafting of the bills began, the declared objective was to protect privacy and human rights. However, the objective has been changed to one of controlling the freedom of speech and expression. Why? Apparently, this is due to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's intention to put the media under tighter control in the wake of its miserable defeat in the 1998 Upper House election.

With suspicions and scandals exposed involving LDP politicians, the ruling forces are reluctant to push ahead with further investigations into political corruption and crimes of power, and want to bulldoze through the bills in the Diet in an attempt to keep LDP wrongdoing from being exposed.

The four opposition parties, including the Japanese Communist Party, are now firmly united in demanding that the bills be withdrawn and fundamentally reviewed. (end)