media

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Do mass media play their role as watchdogs?

The most important role of mass media such as newspapers, television and radio is to provide citizens with facts and monitor the government in order to prevent the abuse of power. However, Japanese mass media, especially national newspapers and TV programs, are failing to fulfill this mission.

Focusing on prime minister's position

One recent example of media's failure to fulfill their responsibility was the way they reported on the diplomacy of Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro who has isolated himself in Asia due to his visits to Yasukuni Shrine.

Koizumi visited Malaysia this week to attend the ASEAN Summit and the East Asia Summit. Chinese and South Korean leaders, who were critical of Koizumi's Yasukuni visits, refused to hold a summit meeting with him. ASEAN leaders were also concerned about Koizumi's diplomacy. All this reveals how serious the situation is.

However, national newspaper reports on the ASEAN summit on December 14 focused on the prime minister's remarks that criticism from China is "hardly understandable," with such headlines as "PM Koizumi criticizes China (Yomiuri Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun)," and "PM names country to criticize (Sankei Shimbun)." They failed to inform readers of the fact that Japan is seriously isolated in Asia or even to give readers ideas as how to end this difficulty.

In their December 15 editorials, Mainichi and Nihon Keizai Shimbun stated that they take ASEAN countries' statements seriously. But Yomiuri and Sankei speculatively reported that China is seeking to play a leadership role in establishing the East Asia Community. They even went as far as to insist that Koizumi's response was reasonable and that he must counter China to avoid playing right into its hands.

Not only China and South Korea but also ASEAN countries are critical of Koizumi-led diplomacy because Koizumi's attitude, indicated by his repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine glorifying the past war of aggression, cannot be accepted in the international society arena that is striving to reject war and create an international order of peace. By failing to face up to this point and joining the prime minister in criticizing China, they abandon their fundamental role of covering the truth and monitoring the power.

"Asahi Shimbun" in its evening edition of December 13 reported about ASEAN leaders concerned about Japan-China relations. On December 14, it editorially complained about the deteriorating bilateral relations. These articles may have been intended to pay attention to Asian criticisms of Koizumi's diplomacy, but they only reported on the move toward the creation of an East Asia Community in conjunction with a "contest for a leadership role" between Japan and China.

If they really considered analyzing Koizumi diplomacy as watchdogs of power, why didn't they criticize Prime Minister Koizumi's remarks defying Asian criticisms? Instead of doing so, national newspapers reported that Prime Minister Koizumi, who could not hold talks with his Chinese and South Korean counterparts, had "friendly" chats with them in the anteroom or that he borrowed a fountain pen from Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao at the signing of the Kuala Lumpur Declaration. This only helps to obscure the truth of the matter.

Media didn't criticize foreign minister's remark

Concerning the question of Yasukuni Shrine, these media only reported Foreign Minister Aso Taro's statement that "nothing is wrong with the prime minister's basic stance" in defense of the prime minister's glorification of the Japanese war of aggression. It is obvious that they cannot fulfill their role as watchdogs of power on the grounds that they stop short of actually criticizing when they should criticize.

This is not only concerning the question of the prime minister's visits to Yasukuni Shrine and his diplomacy.

In the September 11 general election, the media made a big fuss over Koizumi's call for "postal reform" and "assassins" (candidates the Liberal Democratic Party fielded against more than 20 former LDP members whom he wanted removed from the Diet), and gave a helping hand to the Koizumi-LDP's runaway politics. National papers in unison took a submissive attitude toward the government policies of constitutional revisions and heavier taxes on the public.

The Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association (NSK) in the latest issue of its magazine "Shimbun Kenkyu (study of papers)" featured the question of "the government and the media" in which active reporters and researchers commented, "If the media jump unguardedly on the prime minister's image strategy, they cannot fulfill their role of watching political power."

The NSK itself had to put up such a feature story. This means that the Japanese mass media, far from their original role as watchdogs of power, have reached a stage of trying very hard to restore their role.
- Akahata, December 16, 2005