<p>Last December, around the time Prime Minister Shinzo Abe thrust his Special Secrets Protection Bill on Japan despite popular opposition, a bizarre advertisement for the daily Asahi Shimbun appeared in subway stations across Tokyo. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The poster showed a well-known former boxer, now in his 60s, poring over a newspaper spread on his desk. The text read: “I want to be a citizen the prime minister will respect.”<br /><br />The ad caught the public’s eye, but it garnered overwhelmingly negative reactions, ranging from befuddlement to anger. As one freelance journalist argued, the newspaper’s self-portrayal was at odds with the so-called Canon of Journalism adopted by the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association in 2000. <br /><br />Those guidelines state, among other things, that “the public’s right to know” in a democracy “cannot be ensured without the existence of media, operating with the guarantee of freedom of speech and expression, while being totally committed to a high moral standard and fully independent.” The Asahi Shimbun has yet to respond satisfactorily to this criticism.<br /><br />The implications of this peculiar ad are troubling. And they seem to be borne out by several incidents that have taken place in its wake, which raise serious doubts about just how “fully independent” Japanese papers really are.<br /><br /> One galling example occurred on Dec. 26, 2013, when Abe became the first sitting Japanese head of state in seven years to visit the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, the controversial memorial said to house the spirits of Japan’s war dead, including those of convicted war criminals. <br /><br />That very evening, Abe had dinner with the political editors and writers of Japan’s most prominent newspapers, including Asahi, Yomiuri and Mainichi. The next day, only one of the prime minister’s dinner companions wrote about it.<br /><br />Sole exception<br /><br />The sole exception, Mainichi’s political editor, criticised the visit for harming the national interest by predictably causing an international stir. <br /><br />But he also noted “the significance of the prime minister’s motivation, which was to express his veneration for the spirits of the heroes who sacrificed their lives for Japan.” <br /><br />The piece was noticeably gentler on Abe than the paper’s editorial of the same day, suggesting that the author’s personal interactions with Abe may have swayed his views in the prime minister’s favour.<br /><br />There was a good deal of popular outrage when news of this dinner came to light, but not one of the newspapers whose editors dined with Abe that evening has yet offered an explanation for why it happened. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. <br /><br />My own survey of publicly available information about the prime minister’s movements reveals that in the 17 months since he has come to power, he has broken bread with prominent media figures on no fewer than 36 occasions. <br /><br />The list includes the presidents and chief editorial writers of numerous news agencies and national and local newspapers. <br /><br />Every one of these meals took place not in intimate, convivial atmosphere of private restaurants.<br /><br />During the six months after the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, Prime Minister Naoto Kan never dined with media personalities. <br /><br />Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda had just six such meals while he was in power, from September 2011 through December 2012 — an average of once every two months, compared with twice a month for Abe. Abe has made a priority of cultivating relations with the media. <br /><br />He has increased his cabinet’s media budget for this fiscal year by almost one-third over the previous year, to a total of roughly $64 million. Even worse than Abe’s efforts to ingratiate himself with the media is the media’s willingness to play along. Ever since the Meiji period, when Japan began struggling to transform itself into a modern nation-state, the media has been dominated by organisations known as “press clubs.”<br /><br /> There are about 800 of these clubs in the country now, at levels ranging from the local to the national. Members gain privileged access to politicians and information, as well as the use of office space rent-free; freelancers are limited. <br /><br />As a result, many journalists naturally drift closer to authority over time. And the more established they are, the more incentive they have to act like “citizens the prime minister will respect.” Abe has outdone previous prime ministers in this tendency. <br /><br />How much further can he go before Japan has no more newspapers its citizens will respect?<br /></p>
<p>Last December, around the time Prime Minister Shinzo Abe thrust his Special Secrets Protection Bill on Japan despite popular opposition, a bizarre advertisement for the daily Asahi Shimbun appeared in subway stations across Tokyo. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The poster showed a well-known former boxer, now in his 60s, poring over a newspaper spread on his desk. The text read: “I want to be a citizen the prime minister will respect.”<br /><br />The ad caught the public’s eye, but it garnered overwhelmingly negative reactions, ranging from befuddlement to anger. As one freelance journalist argued, the newspaper’s self-portrayal was at odds with the so-called Canon of Journalism adopted by the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association in 2000. <br /><br />Those guidelines state, among other things, that “the public’s right to know” in a democracy “cannot be ensured without the existence of media, operating with the guarantee of freedom of speech and expression, while being totally committed to a high moral standard and fully independent.” The Asahi Shimbun has yet to respond satisfactorily to this criticism.<br /><br />The implications of this peculiar ad are troubling. And they seem to be borne out by several incidents that have taken place in its wake, which raise serious doubts about just how “fully independent” Japanese papers really are.<br /><br /> One galling example occurred on Dec. 26, 2013, when Abe became the first sitting Japanese head of state in seven years to visit the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, the controversial memorial said to house the spirits of Japan’s war dead, including those of convicted war criminals. <br /><br />That very evening, Abe had dinner with the political editors and writers of Japan’s most prominent newspapers, including Asahi, Yomiuri and Mainichi. The next day, only one of the prime minister’s dinner companions wrote about it.<br /><br />Sole exception<br /><br />The sole exception, Mainichi’s political editor, criticised the visit for harming the national interest by predictably causing an international stir. <br /><br />But he also noted “the significance of the prime minister’s motivation, which was to express his veneration for the spirits of the heroes who sacrificed their lives for Japan.” <br /><br />The piece was noticeably gentler on Abe than the paper’s editorial of the same day, suggesting that the author’s personal interactions with Abe may have swayed his views in the prime minister’s favour.<br /><br />There was a good deal of popular outrage when news of this dinner came to light, but not one of the newspapers whose editors dined with Abe that evening has yet offered an explanation for why it happened. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. <br /><br />My own survey of publicly available information about the prime minister’s movements reveals that in the 17 months since he has come to power, he has broken bread with prominent media figures on no fewer than 36 occasions. <br /><br />The list includes the presidents and chief editorial writers of numerous news agencies and national and local newspapers. <br /><br />Every one of these meals took place not in intimate, convivial atmosphere of private restaurants.<br /><br />During the six months after the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, Prime Minister Naoto Kan never dined with media personalities. <br /><br />Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda had just six such meals while he was in power, from September 2011 through December 2012 — an average of once every two months, compared with twice a month for Abe. Abe has made a priority of cultivating relations with the media. <br /><br />He has increased his cabinet’s media budget for this fiscal year by almost one-third over the previous year, to a total of roughly $64 million. Even worse than Abe’s efforts to ingratiate himself with the media is the media’s willingness to play along. Ever since the Meiji period, when Japan began struggling to transform itself into a modern nation-state, the media has been dominated by organisations known as “press clubs.”<br /><br /> There are about 800 of these clubs in the country now, at levels ranging from the local to the national. Members gain privileged access to politicians and information, as well as the use of office space rent-free; freelancers are limited. <br /><br />As a result, many journalists naturally drift closer to authority over time. And the more established they are, the more incentive they have to act like “citizens the prime minister will respect.” Abe has outdone previous prime ministers in this tendency. <br /><br />How much further can he go before Japan has no more newspapers its citizens will respect?<br /></p>