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NSK News Bulletin Online
December 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------
*Topics --Photographers Hunting Reflections of Stock Market Rollercoaster - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Story of the Month>>> Horizontally Flowing Layout a New Trend in Japanese Newspapers -------------------------------------------------------------------
Fukuoka High Court: Sensitivity Required in “Real Name” Reporting In a new development, a presiding judge at the Fukuoka High Court on Oct. 28 appended a strong advisory to the media as part of a court decision. The advisory supplemented the court’s rejection of an appeal by a junior high school teacher who had unsuccessfully sought compensation for damages due to the publication of his name in reports of his arrest in an alleged molestation case that was later dropped by prosecutors. The appellant teacher had been continuing his action against the respondent defendants in a libel suit he had filed against NHK and three commercial broadcasting companies in Okinawa Prefecture. The male teacher, aged in his 30s, had been working at a public junior high school in Okinawa Prefecture. He was arrested in March 2007 for allegedly molesting a girl. The prosecutors eventually dropped the case, saying in November of this year that they were exercising leniency in suspending their planned indictment of the teacher. At the time of the teacher’s arrest, all four broadcasters prominently reported the case and publicized his name. Presiding Judge Yoshinori Kawabe of the Fukuoka High Court in his Oct. 28 ruling upheld the lower court’s dismissal of the teacher’s demand for compensation, reaffirming that the public interest had been served by disclosing the name of the suspect at the time of his arrest. “When it comes to facts pertaining to the public interest, it is fitting for the media to reveal the suspect’s name in order to ensure accuracy and objectivity in news reporting,” the High Court judge said. However, going beyond the issue of the appeal, the judge warned: “With the advent of real-name reporting, the media needs to be sensitive to the disadvantages that the accused can suffer.” In particular, the judge singled out a remark made by a male announcer at one of the four broadcasters, who had said, “For pity’s sake! Of all men, this teacher did this!” The judge cited those words as lacking the necessary consideration for the accused. Going yet further, in an unusual attachment to the ruling, the judge noted that all of the media had reported the teacher’s arrest, but complained that they did not subsequently report the fact that he had not ultimately been indicted. In a rejection of the broadcasters’ argument that the dropping of the case had not been “not newsworthy,” the judge insisted that, “the media’s attitude in this matter must be thoroughly re-examined.” Presiding Judge Kawabe distributed his attached comment in writing to each media organization on the same day as he released his decision on the teacher’s appeal, strongly implying that any media reports of his appeal decision should incorporate a clear reference to the prosecutors’ decision not to indict the teacher for any offense. 2 Major Commercial Broadcasters Post Net Losses for 1st Half Japan’s five main commercial broadcasting networks on Nov. 11 announced their financial results for the first six months (April ? September) of fiscal 2008. Reflecting the global financial crisis and the resulting economic setback in Japan, all five networks registered a year-on-year decline in spot advertising sales, with the drop ranging from 9.6 to 11.7 percent. Fuji Media Holdings, Inc. (formerly Fuji Television Network, Inc.), Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. (TBS), Nippon Television Network Corp. (NTV), TV Asahi Corp. and TV Tokyo Corp. all attempted to respond to the economic challenge. In terms of net sales, all of the corporations except NTV managed to report a year-on-year gain as revenues from non-broadcasting operations made up for the decline in revenues from broadcasting. NTV and TV Tokyo ended up posting net losses when their decline in revenue from broadcasting was combined with appraisal losses in securities. Both wrote down as ‘extraordinary’ their losses due to the drop in stock prices. TBS reported a 6.9 percent year-on-year drop in revenue from TV broadcasting. However, revenue from its visual content business and cultural projects surged 81.0 percent year-on-year, due largely to \7.7 billion in income from movie box-office proceeds. Revenue from its real estate division quadrupled year-on-year to \9.1 billion. NTV posted a 3.8 percent drop in revenue from broadcasting, but revenues from its non-broadcasting activity, including its movie business and mail order sales, surged 24.1 percent. The company still registered a half-yearly net loss, its first since the six-months from October 1971 through March 1972. Fuji MHD, which changed its corporate status from a broadcast business company to a certified broadcast holding company on Oct. 1, posted a 4.2 percent drop in revenue from television broadcasting. Revenue from its radio broadcasting division (Nippon Broadcasting System, Inc.) also fell, dropping 6.5 percent. However, the corporation cut program production costs by 9.7 percent (\5.8 billion), while also cutting back on promotional, advertising, outsourcing and other expenses. Fuji MHD registered a 33.7 percent gain in operating profit in its broadcasting operations. Net income, however, still declined 45.9 percent to ?5.6 billion, in a result linked to its extraordinary gains through sales of investment securities recorded in the same period of the previous fiscal year. TV Asahi reported a 1.4 percent drop in revenue from television broadcasting, but revenue from its music publication business rose 37.8 percent. As with its revenue from music publication, revenue from “other” businesses also posted a year-on-year gain in terms of both revenue and recurring profit. A TV Asahi official said the corporation plans to concentrate on cutting expenses, while pursuing wide-ranging business tie-ups with the Asahi Shimbun and outside partners. TV Tokyo reported a 1.9 percent drop in broadcasting revenue. But revenues from its visual content business and sales of animation DVDs continued to rise solidly. Income from copyright royalties soared 21.6 percent and revenue from events rose 23.1 percent.
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