In Japan, all roads might lead to Tokyo, but the traffic of media content is largely one way -- out. News in Japan almost always means news from Tokyo: Most newspapers and TV news shows here are produced by a handful of giant Tokyo-based companies that own most of the country's large papers, TV stations and magazines.
While most cities around Japan have their own newspaper, the most read newspapers in the country are the Tokyo-based giants Asahi and Yomiuri, which have over 12 million subscribers each. Only the very biggest cities have their own TV news broadcasts: Few viewers outside Tokyo and Osaka can watch professional news programs about their own town or city. Japan's major networks do have regional affiliates, each with their own news programs, but these are generally broad regional news broadcasts that do not give focused local coverage to individual cities. Even Japan's largest cities do not have dedicated nightly news shows. The government recently hired Koichi Kobayashi, a professor of media communications at Tokyo's Toyo University, to head a task force that studied why local news is so weak in Japan and what can be done to improve it. Kobayashi's task force was set up by Japan's Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications. The group included academics, advertisers, local content producers and representatives of local government. Their job was to find out why there's only a trickle of local programming coming from local news producers. The task force held five meetings and recently published a report detailing their findings. The report examined both Internet content and broadcast content, but concentrated mostly on local television. Their conclusion: "The current situation surrounding local media content is not necessarily good. While each local area tries hard ? local media content cannot be evaluated as successful on the whole." Click here to see the report.
Kobayashi spoke recently with Japan Media Review writer Tony McNicol to discuss the group's findings. The following is an edited version of telephone interviews and e-mails: Japan Media Review: Why did the government commission this report into local media? Koichi Kobayashi: Most of the Japanese media are based in Tokyo. Only a handful of groups produce local media content from a base in the areas where it's actually shown. The government is worried that Japan doesn't have enough content on its local media networks. Recently, they've been looking at all the amount of content on all Japanese media. Japan is pretty well-supplied with new infrastructure; ADSL broadband, satellite broadcasting, etc. ... and we will have digital TV soon. But what's going to be carried by that infrastructure? There isn't enough content at the moment, particularly local media. The government is beginning to wonder, "Why are you producing this communications infrastructure which nobody uses and which isn't carrying anything?"
JMR: Why aren't local communities producing their own news programs? KK: The main networks have regional affiliates and they show news programs about their areas. The problem is small cities don't have any news services of their own. For example, at home in Niigata prefecture, I can get TV news about the whole prefecture, but there's no TV station for my own town. But even if there was more local news, would there really be a market for it? I don't think people have much interest in their local communities. The central government of Japan is assuming that if attractive local content is broadcast, then residents are automatically going to watch it. But I have some doubts about whether they would really watch the programs. To put it very strongly, I think most Japanese are satisfied with the programming they have now. They're not looking for more local media. JMR: Why don't you think people in Japan are interested in their own communities? KK: It's possible that the lack of local news has undermined people's sense of local community, but the Tokyo central government is very strong, and local government doesn't have much power. The regions just do what the central government says. People living in local areas aren't able to decide for themselves what their communities are going to do. That's why people don't have so much interest in their local communities. (In the United States and elsewhere) people want to decide about local issues within their own local communities. In that kind of situation, people are going to be interested when local media broadcast information about things happening in the local community. The Koizumi administration is talking about decentralization of authority. But it's no good just devolving authority, they have to send money (to the countryside), too! JMR: Most people in Japan can get cable TV. Does that show local news and programming? KK: Japan has had cable television since the 1960s and now several million Japanese households are connected. But out of perhaps 40 to 60 channels in one area, maybe one would be the local broadcaster. There's nothing like the New York channel which shows news 24 hours a day. It could be about one hour of programming repeated throughout the day, community news or some special local event. No Japanese cable TV channel has ever broadcast continuous local content. JMR: The main news organizations send their own reporters out to the regions, but do the local cable TV companies do any reporting? KK: Independent journalism is very difficult. The people that manage the cable TV companies are often wealthy local individuals connected with companies that are providing financial support (to the cable companies). There's a serious problem with objectivity. Cable companies have never really produced news journalism.
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"But even if there was more local news, would there really be a market for it? I don't think people have much interest in their local communities." |
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JMR: What effect is the long Japanese recession having on local media? Are local broadcasters feeling the effect of the advertising slump?KK: Terrestrial commercial broadcasting is in a squeeze because it relies on advertising revenue. Newspapers are having problems, too. But very few cable TV operations rely on advertising, so they aren't directly affected. JMR: Are Japanese NPOs (not-for-profit organizations) involved in local media? KK: Only a few NPOs produce content for cable TV and there aren't many links between cable TV and NPOs. However, more and more NPOs produce Web pages for local groups -- say, for example, groups selling local produce. The amount of information on local areas on the Internet has grown enormously. JMR: Digital TV broadcasting started in some parts of Japan in December. Is that going to help local media? KK: Normally, surveys show that digitalization would increase the number of channels. In theory, the number of programs about local areas would increase. But actually, when we did a survey, we found that local media do not have the money or the capacity to do that. JMR: Did you find anyone who was able to make a success of local media despite the economic and political climate? KK: Takayuki Takahashi lives in Tottori-ken and runs a cable television company. He's also involved in a satellite broadcasting service, for example, beaming the Tottori Triathlon to cable TV operators all over Japan. He has linked up with local cable operators over Tottori prefecture and wants to make regular broadcasts of programs relevant to Tottori prefecture. When his company decided to broadcast from a local exhibition of Japanese calligraphy, the club members decided to buy cable TV. It was a kind of "public access" TV. He is successful because he has a marketing strategy: Broadcast local events and sell cable TV to the people involved. JMR: Does discussion on the Internet replace the lack of local news and programming? KK: Hardly any sites on the Japanese Internet discuss public issues. South Korea, for example, has a "public sphere" area as part of its Internet, but Japan has almost no section playing a political role. The general feel of the Japanese Internet is of a diary or a novel written in the first person. JMR: So what does Japan have to do now to strengthen its local media? KK: We have to nurture an industry of producers for Internet and broadcast content, either professional or amateur. We have to nurture not just a content-producing "industry," but a wider base of producers. We need more active and resourceful people. Government support for real local media would be nice, too, but the Ministry of Finance isn't interested at the moment.
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