02.27.04
Japanese Media Blamed for Negative U.S.-Japan Relationship Over Radiation Incident

From Kyodo News via The Japan Times: A recently discovered postwar U.S. government report on the accidental radiation poisoning of Japanese fishermen exposed to a U.S. hydrogen bomb test in 1954 accused the Japanese media of helping to sour relations between the United States and Japan over the accident.  During the Fukuryu Maru incident, Americans volunteered to treat the 23 irradiated crew members, but the Japanese rejected the offer. According to the document, written two months after the accident, the Japanese media made the already serious problem worse. The 19-page report stated, "This in no small part was due to the rantings of the hysterical sensation-seeking, irresponsible, sometimes mendacious Japanese press." But University of Pennsylvania sociology and history professor Susan Lindee said the Japanese thought "'the Americans had been dishonest and secretive, refusing to share data (on radiation victims from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings.)"
 -- By Japan Media Review Contributing Writer Sunny Yu
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02.27.04
Fuji TV Claims to Reveal Harsh Life in North Korean Prison Camp

From Reuters: As international negotiations with North Korea on that country's nuclear program continue, Fuji Television Network showed what it said was previously unrevealed video of a North Korean camp for political prisoners. In the footage, prisoners in thin clothes struggle at harsh labor harvesting cabbage on snow-covered ground. Fuji claimed it got the video from a defector who secretly recorded camp life. Despite denials from North Korean government officials about the existence of the camps, a report issued last October by the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea estimated that up to 200,000 political prisoners are kept in camps and forced to work like slaves.
 -- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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02.26.04
NTV in Hot Water Again; This Time Over Inaccurate Consumer Report

From Mainichi Shimbun: The Nippon Television Network (NTV) apologized Feb. 23 to Japanese toy manufacturer Konami after accusations that the station portrayed a toy inaccurately in a news report. The news program "Kyou no Dekigoto" (Today's Event) reported Feb. 5 that many children pinched their fingers in toys made by Tomy, another toy manufacturer. The clip actually depicted a child playing with a Konami toy. An NTV producer apologized in a letter, saying, "We deeply regret that our picture, in the negative content of the news, resulted to create a misunderstanding." Scandals have plagued the network within the past six months, including accusations raised last week about subliminal images inserted in a game show. In October an NTV producer was accused of manipulating ratings for his variety shows, and it was discovered in November that a news segment about lobster fishing had been staged.
 -- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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02.25.04
Banking Chairman Pleads Guilty to Wiretapping Reporters

From The Japan Times: In his first court session at the Tokyo District Court, the former chairman of consumer lending company Takefuji Corp. pleaded guilty Feb. 24 to ordering the wiretapping of two investigative journalists. Yasuo Takei first violated the Telecommunications Business Law by ordering an employee to bug freelance journalist Shunsuke Yamaoka's home phone from December 2000 to February 2001. Yamaoka previously wrote an article accusing Takei of involvement in stock manipulation. Then Takei ordered the same employee to wiretap the phone of another investigative reporter who wrote of an alleged scandal about the company's losses from stock transactions. "What my indictment says is true," Takei said. "I bear a grave responsibility for ordering (the wiretaps)."
 -- By Japan Media Review Contributing Writer Sunny Yu
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02.24.04
Survey: Many Parents Unaware of Internet's Dark Side

From The Daily Yomiuri: A recent survey by the National Congress of Parents and Teachers Association (Japanese) shows that many parents are unaware of the negative impacts of the Internet on their children. The results of the survey were presented during the Tokyo Conference on the Internet and Children on Jan. 24. According to the results of the survey, conducted with around 6,000 elementary and middle school students and about 4,800 parents, only 15 percent of parents were familiar with how the Internet works. Some 70 percent didn't know that filtering software exists for adult-oriented sites. The results also showed that 12 percent of parents were ignorant of adult Web sites. The Daily Yomiuri reported that the survey shows a gap in what parents think their children are accessing on the Net and what children are really viewing.
 -- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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02.22.04
Japan, EU Agree to Improve Japan's Press Club System

From The Japan Times: Japan will make efforts to improve its press club system by giving foreign media better access to government-provided news, the European Union and Japan said Feb. 20 in Brussels. This is in response to the EU's request that Japan eliminate the "kisha" club system, which is criticized as being a closed system that is unfair to foreign news reporters. Makita Shimokawa of the Japanese Foreign Ministry said that the government and The Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association would work to allow foreign journalists into news conferences provided by press clubs. The association said in December that the EU's position was based on misunderstanding and cultural bias.
 -- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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02.21.04
Human Rights Group Protests Government Site for Reporting Illegal Aliens

From The Asahi Shimbun: Japan's Ministry of Justice is being criticized for a part of its Web site that allows the public to report information about illegal aliens. Amnesty International Japan (Japanese) accused the ministry of violating human rights, claiming the site could cause racial discrimination toward foreigners. Requiring only the informant's age and prefecture, the site solicits detailed personal information on possible illegal foreigners and passes it on to about 100 regional immigration bureaus. Asahi reported that several people have disclosed information about suspected illegal foreign residents since the site's launch Feb. 16. One ministry official said reports will be well investigated and information will not be "leaked," Asahi added. The site is part of a government plan to cut by half the estimated 250,000 illegal residents within five years. But Japanese humanitarian groups are concerned that the site could hamper humanitarian activities for undocumented foreigners.
 -- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Zhen Wang
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02.19.04
It's No "Pulitzer," but War Reporters Earn Special Award

From Pressnet: The screening committee for Japan's version of the Pulitzer Prize announced there is no winner for 2003, but special prizes would be given to three independent broadcast journalists for their coverage of the war in Iraq. These are the first special prizes given in the history of the Vaughan-Ueda Memorial Prize, according to The Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association. The winners are Kazutaka Sato and Mika Yamamoto of Japan Press, and Takeharu Watai of Asia Press International. The reporters arrived in Iraq before the breakout of the war and continued to report there even after other Japanese reporters left. Watai used a small video camera to report conditions in Baghdad to the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), TV Asahi and wire service Kyodo News. Sato, a veteran news reporter, teamed up with Yamamoto and reported for the Nippon Television Network (NTV), Sankei Shimbun and Nikkan Gendai. The Vaughan-Ueda Memorial Prize was created in 1950, modeled on the Pulitzer Prize in the United States. It is awarded annually to a journalist whose reporting contributed to global understanding.
 -- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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02.17.04
Internet Ad Spending Soars in 2003

From Japan's IT Media: Internet advertising spending in Japan increased 40 percent over the previous year while ad spending overall remained flat, according to a report by Dentsu Inc., Japan's largest advertising agency. Ad spending in Japan totaled approximately $52 billion, a 0.3 percent decrease over last year. But with an ever-increasing number of broadband users, many Japanese companies are recognizing the Internet as a developing segment of the mass media, Dentsu said. In response to the popularity of broadband, most Internet ads use Flash and streaming video. Ads on cell phones are increasing, often complementing a company's ad campaigns on TV and in other media. According to Asia Pulse and Nikkei via an Asia Times Online report, Dentsu's report indicated that Internet advertising could become bigger than the radio advertising market next year. Radio ad spending will probably remain flat in coming years, Dentsu added.
 -- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Zhen Wang and Contributing Writer Toru Takahashi
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02.16.04
Attack in Iraq Targeted Japanese Media, Government Says 

From The Asahi Shimbun: Japan's Defense Agency said a mortar attack last week in southeastern Iraq likely was aimed at Japanese media covering Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force. On Feb. 12 the mortars fell in Samawah near a building used by the Coalition Provisional Authority and a hotel where Japanese journalists are lodged. Agency officials said that in order to aim at the CPA building, however, the attack would have had to come from a closer distance, Asahi reported. The government sent troops to the area because it was considered stable -- now the SDF has said it is unprepared to defend itself against such attacks, according to the newspaper. Asahi also quoted a source in the Defense Agency as saying, "If the SDF is attacked, the whole world will become interested. From a terrorist's standpoint, there is greater value in targeting the SDF in comparison to the armies of other nations."
 -- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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02.16.04
NTV Accused of Using Subliminal Images in Program

From Mainichi Daily News: Nippon Television Network (NTV) edited out images of a 10,000-yen bill from the opening credits of a TV program after accusations that the shots were subliminal. "Manee no Tora" (Money Tiger), in which participants pitch a business plan to successful executives in order to convince them to invest in the idea, included flashes of the bill's portrait of Yukichi Fukuzawa, a 19th century international scholar. The National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan said subliminal images are inappropriate, whether they are intended to influence viewers or enhance the theme of a program. NTV officials responded that the show's producer intended "to create an impression of money, not aiming for subliminal (effects)." The broadcaster removed the image from the Feb. 9 program and subsequent airings.

This is not the first time Japanese networks have been accused of inserting subliminal images into programs, Mainichi reported. In 1989 a program in conjunction with NTV aired subliminal images of Shoko Asahara, founder of the doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, which was responsible for the deadly sarin nerve gas attack in a Tokyo subway in 1995. A headshot of the cult guru was added into a special by the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) in May 1995.
 -- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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02.10.04
Media Reps Study Financial Struggles in Online Journalism

From Mainichi Shimbun: The struggle to earn profits in online journalism was a buzzworthy topic among representatives of over 30 publications at a study group on the future of newspapers held in Tokushima. Although a January survey by The Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association (Nihon Shinbun Kyokai) showed that almost all national and local newspapers have online versions, among the participants of the discussion group for online newspapers, few reported financial success.

One of the struggling sites is Shimotsuke Shimbun, a local paper in Tochigi Prefecture that gets 5 million hits per month and offers a low-cost archive service for articles as old as three years. To-o Nippo, published in Aomori Prefecture, has also done its share of financial hand-wringing. The discussion group shared the concern that publishing content online could result in a decline in newspaper subscriptions, preventing companies from expanding their online business. Participants also worried that charging fees might decrease readership at the site.
 -- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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02.10.04
Iraqi Police Ordered to Keep Security Information From Japanese Media

From Mainichi Daily News: Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority has imposed a gag rule on Japanese media covering Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force in Samawah, according to Mainichi. That's because Japanese journalists have been reporting "security problems" and officials feel the town's image needs improving, said Karim Helbet Monahar al-Zayday, police commissioner in Al Muthanna province where Samawah is seated. Gov. Muhammed al-Hassani, al-Zayday and CPA representatives were involved in the decision that none of the police stations in the province may provide security information to Japanese reporters. According to al-Zayday, who suggested that the rule may be reviewed later, the town's security is getting better. The governor, who ordered the gag rule Jan. 20, said the Japanese media were "deliberately playing up the security problem in Samawah," al-Zayday added. The commissioner used an example of a Japanese media organization "(reporting) without grounds" that men arrested at a checkpoint and later released were terrorists with sights on Japanese troops.
 -- By Japan Media Review Contributing Writer Sunny Yu
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02.10.04
Opinion: Media Stirring Too Little Controversy Over Iraq Restrictions

From The Japan Times: In an interview with The Japan Times, sociology professor Takaaki Hattori criticized the media and the government about restricted war reporting, saying the media should be "the public's eyes and ears," not "a mouthpiece for the government." He said by sending warnings, cutting the number of press briefings and the like, Japan's Defense Agency easily controls media coverage of Self-Defense Force troops in Iraq. And while some in the media are critical, little discussion or controversy have been raised about the restrictions. He added it is especially "dirty" of the government to control the media when taxpayers bear the cost of the war. Characteristically, Hattori claims, the Japanese media are poor at criticizing domestic issues, but skilled in reporting foreign issues. Unlike in the United States, he went on to say, there is not much discussion on freedom of speech in Japan despite protection under Article 21 in Japan's constitution.
 -- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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02.03.04
Korean-Japanese Partnership to Broadcast Video via Satellite to Mobile Devices

From Nikkei Electronics Asia: A satellite service broadcasting radio and television to cell phones will be launched in July by Japan's Mobile Broadcasting Corp. and Korea's SK Telecom, The Nikkei Business Daily reports. The companies will offer a variety of sports, drama, news and music programs through their shared communications satellite, which also has the capability to broadcast to car stereos and portable televisions. In the first few months, Japanese mobile users will be able to access 40 channels of TV and radio broadcasts for free, followed by a monthly fee between $10 and $20. SK Telecom, Toshiba Corp., Toyota Motor Corp. and others are partners in Mobile Broadcasting Corp., founded in 1998.
 -- By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Zhen Wang
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02.03.04
Hardcover-like E-book Readers on the Way

From The Japan Times: A light e-book reader that can be opened and closed like a real book will be distributed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (Panasonic) in Japan as early as this month, with a Sony model not far behind. Users of Matsushita's Sigma Book can download up to 20 of 4,500 titles provided by distributor eBook Initiative Japan Co., with English and other foreign language titles to be added. Sony's reader, planned for a May release, can store around 150 e-books. E-books will be sold over the Internet for Sony readers in April through Publishing Link Ltd., a venture of Sony, publishers Kodansha Ltd. and Shinchosha Co., and a dozen other companies. Sony e-book promoter Yoshitaka Ukita said e-book readers will likely become "ubiquitous."
 -- By Japan Media Review Contributing Writer Jennifer Ren
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