Yomiuri leads coverage of 2007 World Athletics Championships in Osaka

Newspapers were among the main ways to follow the nine days of excitement at the 11th World Championships of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) that wrapped up at Nagai Stadium in Osaka on Sept. 2.

The competition drew reporters and photographers from across Japan and around the world as major media organizations gathered in Osaka.

All major Japanese national newspapers devoted extensive coverage to the championships, running special pages centering on their Osaka editions. The Yomiuri Shimbun was the official newspaper of the event. Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS), which was the event’s host broadcaster, mobilized about 1,000 staff members to record video of all of the competitions for international release.

As the IAAF’s national partner, the Yomiuri Shimbun printed special issues during the competition in addition to providing extensive coverage in its daily newspaper and running public relations booths for its own publicity. The Yomiuri’s Japanese-language daily and its English-language paper, The Daily Yomiuri, won exclusive rights to distribute newspapers within the venues and other facilities used for the championships, as well as the right to use a composite logo that combined the official event logo with the Yomiuri’s corporate symbol. The Yomiuri used its co-sponsorship with the IAAF to boost its brand image.

It issued a daily tabloid-size, 4-page special issue, featuring the main attractions of each day’s games, distributing it for free in and around Nagai Stadium every evening, as well as distributing an A3-size, 2-page extra edition every night to cover the final results of the day’s contests.

Starting way back in early May, the newspaper began doing PR work through a presentation booth at the World Athletics Competition Plaza, in Shinsai-bashi, Osaka’s main shopping district. The Yomiuri booth featured sports news photos, as well as athletic shoes, vaulting poles and other athletic equipment. On weekends, it ran a quiz game lottery in which participants could win specialty goods. In addition, the Yomiuri operated a separate PR booth near the main venue throughout the entire championships.

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Survey: Newspapers No. 1 in tracking social movements

According to a survey on the public's attitude on information sources, conducted by the Japan Institute for Social and Economic Affairs (the Keizai Koho Center), the newspaper is the most-used source of information when people want to know about general social developments.

Newspapers are rated first in terms of accuracy of information, reliability, expertise and memorability.

The survey aimed to reflect how various information sources are recognized and how they are used by the public. It covered 5,084 men and women, aged 29 and up, who provided a combined total of 3,913 effective responses.

In multiple-choice questioning, 93 percent of the respondents said they use newspapers to get information on general social developments. TV ranked a close second at 90 percent. Magazines and radio had relatively lower consultation rates of 18 percent and 16 percent, respectively. The results mark a trend toward polarization among the four types of conventional media. On the other hand, the Internet is emerging as the third-most-influential source of information, with 60 percent of the respondents using it for the same purpose.

The survey sought respondents’ views on information sources. In terms of accuracy, newspapers ranked highest at 69 percent, followed by TV at 34 percent, radio at 33 percent and the Internet at 26 percent. In terms of reliability, newspapers again ranked top at 67 percent, far outpacing radio at 33 percent and TV at 29 percent. When it comes to corporate information on accidents or misconduct, newspapers were the most popular source of information.

In terms of expertise, newspapers and the Internet shared first place with a rating of 48 percent, while newspapers ranked highest in terms of memorability.

However, respondents gave their highest credit, at 85 percent, to both TV and the Internet in terms of swiftness (outpacing radio, which was at 59 percent) and newspapers (29 percent). A total of 61 percent of the respondents said TV was the easiest-to-understand source of information, followed by newspapers at 54 percent.

In terms of the average time per day spent using these information sources, the largest figure -- 34 percent -- read newspapers for more than 15 minutes but less than 30 minutes. In the case of TV, use ranged from 32 percent watching TV for more than one hour, but less than two hours. A large 54 percent of respondents replied they don’t listen to radio.

By age, generally, the higher the age, the more time a person spends reading a newspaper or watching TV. But the survey found that 19 percent of the respondents aged 29 and below do not read newspapers at all. People in that generation spend much more time using the Internet than those in older generations, the survey said.

An official of the KKC Domestic Affairs Department said Japanese corporations do not necessarily release detailed reports on their Web sites in cases of accidents or misconduct. “The survey has brought to light the fact that in many cases, the people learn of such accidents or misconduct through newspapers and TV news reporting,” the official said.

Survey: Quake-area residents appreciate special issues on necessities

A survey by Kanazawa University found that residents in a town hit hardest by the strong earthquake in March relied most on TV as their primary source of information from right after the quake onward. But respondents also praised the tabloid-size special issues put out by the Asahi Shimbun, covering lifeline utilities and other daily needs.

The survey report was compiled by a task force set up to investigate media-use and to evaluate the major quake that struck Ishikawa Prefecture and nearby areas. The quake’s epicenter was under the sea off the Noto Peninsula at the northern part of Ishikawa Prefecture. The university is in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture.

The survey also covered the hard-hit town of Monzen-Machi in Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture. That town is known for its high percentage of elderly residents. A full 47 percent of the residents are over 65. The survey-takers met 110 survivors of the incident in front of the town's evacuation site.

TV led as the first media to make contact, with 30 percent of respondents saying they turned first to their TV sets. The next most popular information source was community-based telephone and public address systems (19 percent), followed by radio (16 percent). The corresponding figure for newspapers was only 4 percent.

After one month, TV was still on top as the most frequently used form of media (83 percent), followed by newspapers (41 percent). Community-based telephones and public address systems remained a primary source of information in disasters for 20 percent of the respondents.

Asked what information they wanted from the media, 53 percent of the respondents wanted information about “relief measures,” while 42 percent wanted news on “the actual damage” and “cost estimates for repairs.”

Many respondents gave high marks to the Asahi Shimbun's “rescue extra” special edition for evacuees. Asahi published a tabloid-size, 2-page special edition on lifeline utilities and other basic daily information, delivering it to evacuation centers every evening for 13 days straight from the date of the quake.

On information transfer by the media, some residents complained that there was far too little feedback to people in the affected areas, although the media delivered information about those areas nationwide. A volunteer disaster-response coordinator in his 50s proposed that local commercial broadcasters cooperate in opening a temporary FM radio station to inform residents, and that newspaper companies join hands in issuing a common tabloid-size special edition for evacuation facilities in a major disaster.

On any negative aspects of media reporting on the quake-related matters, some pointed to sensationalized coverage or excessive focus on scenes of the worst damage, which only amplified anxiety among local residents in the affected areas. In one case, so many media people swarmed to cover a local soba noodle shop that they blocked customers from getting inside.

Fumio Uno, the visiting professor who filed the report, said the responses to the survey are not exaggerated and reflect complaints commonly heard after past quakes. He said that younger journalists should remember to seek out the true voices of suffering in any accident or crime case. He said, in particular, that newspaper companies need to nurture journalists specializing in quake disasters.

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