Табу в японской прессе

Нанкин (резня, 1937), the so-called comfort women, or sex slaves, forced into prostitution by the army during World War II, and Unit 731, the army laboratory in wartime Manchuria that experimented with chemical weapons on live Chinese prisoners.

The magazine Shukan Shincho reported in February 2001, for example, that NHK, the national state broadcaster, censored a program on the mock trial of the emperor by a group of comfort women and their supporters in Tokyo in December 2000 (Struck, 2000 and Yoneyama, 2001). The program, Senso to josei e no boryoku (War and violence against women) failed to report the final judgment of the court, that the emperor was guilty of war crimes against the women, and instead gave over much of its airtime to an academic known for his rightist views.

The apparent failure of media gatekeepers in Japan to confront intimidation may be the result of the group-centered nature of Japanese society which translates into negotiation and ultimately compromise with elements within the system that threaten to disrupt harmony.

Alternative perspectives on contested historical events like the comfort women and Nanjing are as likely to come from citizens groups (such as the mock trial of the emperor mentioned above that was organized by women's groups) and individual journalists (Iris Chang, Honda Katsuichi), than the organized pillars of the left like Nikkyoso and the Socialist or Communist parties.

In the weeks following the uyoku visit, there were two more incidents of censorship at the radio station (РАДИО В ЗАПАДНОМ ТОКИО). In the first we had interviewed the headmaster of a local junior high school during the course of which I asked how, in the light of the recent changes to the law. In the event his answer was essentially a defense of soft nationalism. "It's a shame that we have to be the only country in the world that is embarrassed to fly our national flag because of events that happened before any of us were born," he said. The entire episode was cut from the broadcast. Sato-san said it had been a "technical error" but we were informed by another member of staff that it had simply been too sensitive.

In the second incident, Yoshida Yoshihisa came on to discuss the media furore about the drunken antics of young revelers (ПЬЯНЫЕ ВЫХОДКИ МОЛОДЫХ ГУЛЯК) at seinenshiki (Coming of Age) ceremonies around Japan in January this year. We argued that the ceremonies were a waste of money. Yoshida sensei further claimed that it was becoming more common at these ceremonies for the participants to be asked to sing the national anthem, a trend he personally found objectionable НЕЖЕЛАТЕЛЬНО. This entire segment was also cut. Sato-san said that to air it was asking for trouble. When we challenged him on this he said that his role, as the director of a small radio station, was to protect the jobs of himself and his staff, not to support abstract concepts of free speech.

Though the Japanese media to a certain extent practicing self-censorship, its method of reporting especially crime stories is under severe attack by the public and the government.

A large part of gender-specific media research in Japan focuses on women in the media, with somewhat less research available on other gender-related topics such as male stereotyping (for example, with regard to the role of fathers) or gay issues.

What's an example of a "rule" that might differentiate the new journalism from the old? АНОНИМНОСТЬ. For instance, in Japan's old media, it has been rare for news stories to show individual writers' or journalists' names at the byline, making it impossible to know who actually wrote any particular story. The effect of this practice, aside from ensuring that few Japanese journalists become famous, has been to unnaturally boost the importance of media branding. News is taken as being authoritative because it comes from the Nikkei, for example, not because it came from a Japanese John Markoff or Edward Murrow. Hence, audiences turn repeatedly to the well-known media brands for news and information, helping enforce the conglomerates' power. Individual journalists can and largely do have highly developed ethical senses, and will pay a lot more attention to the accuracy and credibility of a story for which they take personal responsibility.

New media journalism in Japan will have to cater for entirely new features, like interactivity, that old media -- and old journalists -- never had to contend with.

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