Amagasaki Train Disaster Exposes Media Issues

On April 25, a packed commuter train jumped the tracks on a curve and slammed into a parking garage under an apartment building near JR West Amagasaki Station in Hyogo Prefecture. A total of 107 people died in the seven-car train and many more were injured. Among the victims were two media workers.

Media across Japan covered the disaster in detail. After a couple of days, local media agreed to moderate their reporting and newsgathering following complaints from victims' families. They specifically resolved to avoid the so-called “media scrum” in which Japanese journalists have abused families of victims by camping out in front of their homes and by pursuing them in packs to try to get comments.

However, when the Hyogo Prefectural Police refused to release the names of four of the 107 dead due to objections from their families, the press club at the local police office demanded full disclosure.

To cover the crash scene for press photographs and TV video, newspapers and news agencies used crane vehicles and aircraft. The use of crane vehicles was something new for most newspapers and agencies.

In pursuing responsibility in the disaster, some reporters came under public fire for taking a rough and rude approach at JR West media conferences, which were aired on television.

The decision to rein in the reporters was made on April 27, the third day after the crash, by local media in Hyogo Prefecture. News reporters and photographers had encircled families and others for many hours at the morgue in Amagasaki City and people complained about media harassment to the local police, JR West officials and directly to reporters.

Kaoru Takashi, a deputy managing editor and city news editor of the Kobe Shimbun, who proposed the voluntary restraint, said that on the day of the accident, many people might have understood the media seeking comments. But after two days, reporters seemed like they were hounding individuals who continued visiting the morgue or who spent the night there in search of missing relatives, Takashi said. Such aggressive approaches were intolerable and led to the protests and complaints, he said.

Immediately after the crash, media assembled information from hospitals and the morgue, as well as from rescue workers, to report the extent of the disaster. Local media called on the police to start briefing them as soon as possible, but it was not until 9:55 p.m. on April 25, or 12 hours after the crash, that the police held their first news conference.

After that, the briefings were more regular. But the police continued to refuse to release the names of four dead, announcing only their gender, age and city of residence. The press club at the police station argued that disclosure was indispensable for media coverage, but the police refused to bend. Some other families then called on the media to stop publishing the names and photographs of their dead relatives. The media had no plan for dealing with that request.

Takashi of the Kobe Shimbun said he sees it as necessary that society share the weight of the loss to try to prevent future accidents. He said media have a social duty to provide general information about people who die in a disaster. He emphasized the need to keep trying to win the trust of the families and of following up on any accident.

In terms of filming the scene, the media used cranes because the noise of helicopters interfered with rescue efforts. One newspaper photo official said that his company used a crane as there was enough space and local landowners agreed. “You can't keep a helicopter up in the air around the clock to film rescue operations. Cranes seem to be a good option for longer coverage,” he said.

The Yomiuri Shimbun, in its May 13 morning edition, published an apology for rough words used by one of its reporters at JR West news conferences. A heated exchange with railway officials had aired on television, drawing public condemnation of the Yomiuri. The paper apologized for what it said were inappropriate and improper remarks by its reporter that undermined reader confidence. It said it had reprimanded the reporter and had pulled him out of the JR West news conferences.