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NSK News Bulletin Online
April 2005 -------------------------------------------------------------------
*Topics --Shinano Mainichi Draws Praise for Nagano Special-Olympics Bulletins --Japan News-In-Education Society Founded - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Story of the Month>>> NSK Media Web sites Running More Member-only Services ------------------------------------------------------------------- Yomiuri, Kyodo Cover British Troop Deployment in Samawah, Iraq The Yomiuri Shimbun and the Kyodo News agency assigned reporters to travel with British troops from March 5-12 to cover their assumption of security duties from Dutch troops in Muthana province, southern Iraq. Japanese ground troops are doing non-combat reconstruction work in the province. The reporters covered the March 7 handover ceremony at the former Dutch base camp (Camp Smitty) outside the town of Samawah and a subsequent joint news conference held by the British, Dutch and Japanese troops. The Yomiuri sent its London correspondent to accompany the British troops. Kyodo News assigned the head of its Baghdad bureau and a photographer from its Tokyo head office to cover the story. The Defense Agency said Japanese Self-Defense Force officers in Iraq attended the news conference at the request of the British troops, saying the SDF officers' participation was not related to the presence of Japanese reporters in the British troop convoy. The agency said it did not grant the Japanese reporters any newsgathering access to the SDF camp in Samawah. Health Ministry Limits Information Release on Exams for Doctors, Nurses The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced on March 25 that as of April, it will limit its information disclosure about the results of candidates sitting for the national examinations for doctors, nurses and other state licensees. The ministry says it instituted the new policy in line with the Personal Information Protection Law that went into force on April 1. From now on, announcements of successful applicants will be limited to the number assigned to each examinee at each test site and his or her name in phonetically-based “katakana” characters. The ministry had previously been providing the media such names in their precise Chinese “kanji” characters, along with the addresses to which the results were sent. The change covers 10 ministry-run examinations for doctors, nurses and other state licensees. The announcements of results are made in late April. The ministry’s decision is at odds with a prior request by the press club at the ministry that the identities of successful examinees continue to be released as in the past. The ministry had sought the view of the press club before instituting the new limited-disclosure system. The press club had decided at a general to object to the proposed new system. The press club had written to the ministry to say that: 1) implementation guidelines for national examinations say that the names of successful applicants are to be publicized; 2) professions taken up by these candidates are of a highly public nature; and 3) the release of personal information for news reporting should be permitted in principle, in the spirit of the Personal Information Protection Law. The ministry argued that the identities of successful candidates would still be effectively released under the new system and that candidates' results are already generally known in their communities.
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The bulletin took the form of an eight-page color tabloid. The first half was in Japanese and the latter in English, with the center-spread featuring competition results, photographs and graphics. The Shinano Mainichi supplied articles in Japanese and photos, while Kyodo News handled the English content. In addition to covering athletes and competitions, the bulletin also reported volunteer activities and related events.