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NSK News Bulletin Online
March 2009 -------------------------------------------------------------------
NSK Calls for Lay Judges to Attend News Conferences after Verdicts
The NSK Editorial Affairs Committee held a news conference in Tokyo on Feb. 26 to call for the public to help the media cover trials held under the new lay judge system if they are called to serve as judge-jurors under the system. NSK Editorial Affairs Committee head Tsutomu Saito, of the Sankei Shimbun’s Tokyo main office, issued the statement ahead of the planned introduction of the new trial system in May. He sought prospective lay judges’ understanding of the need for newsgathering activities and reporting and called for all those who serve in that role to attend news conferences after their verdicts are delivered. Under the new system, six randomly selected citizens will serve as lay judges alongside three professional judges, delivering joint verdicts in trials involving serious crimes including murder and deadly assault. The NSK statement said that candid expressions of the feelings of the lay judges and a sharing of their experiences would be vital for the success of the new trial system’s goal of public participation in the judicial process. “Media newsgathering and reporting are indispensable to verify that judicial power is properly exercised,” the statement said. At the same time, it said that news organizations would work to accomplish their mission in line with the legislative intent of the law on the quasi-jury system and lay judges’ obligations. If selected, citizens who serve as lay judges are legally obliged to keep the details of a trial confidential, including all personal information and trial procedures. The NSK Editorial Affairs Committee maintains that lay judges should attend post-trial news conferences to familiarize the public with the new system and to verify its implementation. The committee has been lobbying the Supreme Court for its cooperation in holding such post-trial news conferences since May 2007. Saito told the news conference that his committee informed the top court of its respect for the intent of the law on lay judges, but also emphasized the continuing significance of news reporting about trials. He said that after 12 rounds of discussions, the top court had recognized the importance of disseminating the experiences of lay judges to the public via news reporting to establish the new system in society. With the top court’s support on post-trial news conferences already in hand, the NSK committee is now preparing the ground for lay judges to participate in such conferences. The full text of the NSK statement reads as follows; The lay judge system is scheduled to start on May 21. Under the system, members of the public will participate in trying serious criminal cases as lay judges, serving alongside professional judges. Together, they will determine guilt and hand down sentences. The Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association (NSK) seeks prospective lay judges’ cooperation in our newsgathering activities by asking them to attend post-verdict news conferences. The lay-judge system is being introduced to ensure that decisions on criminal cases reflect the sound common sense of the people, thereby deepening public understanding and trust in the nation’s justice system. In this context, we consider it extremely important for those who do jury duty to candidly express their thoughts and impressions upon completing their duties, so that society at large can properly accept the new ideal of “public participation in the justice system.” In addition, media coverage of the views of lay judges is indispensable to verify that they are functioning appropriately. The new law requires lay judges to keep all personal information and the details of court deliberations confidential in order to ensure fairness and confidence in their functions. In our news gathering and reporting, we will respect that intent of the law as well as the lay judges’ personal circumstances in striving to cover the news in a manner conducive to the people’s right to know.
Dentsu Inc., Japan’s largest advertising agency, on Feb. 23 released its annual ad sales report for 2008. It said that owing to the global economic crisis, total ad spending in all sectors marked its first year-on-year decline in five years, declining 4.7 percent from 2007 to 6.6926 trillion yen. Broken down by category, ad spending in the four major media sectors of newspapers, magazines, radio and television plunged 7.6 percent from 2007 to 3.2995 trillion yen, with their combined share in total ad spending falling below 50 percent for the first time ever. In particular, ad spending on newspapers plummeted 12.5 percent to 827.6 billion yen. The report said that total ad spending in 2008 posted a year-on-year decrease, due to the global financial crisis and the domestic economic setback. It said the decline was also a result of the steep appreciation of the exchange value of the yen, which effectively negated the uplifting effect of the Beijing Olympic Games and other factors. The margin of the year-on-year decline in total ad spending was the third largest on record, exceeded only by the 6.1 percent drop in 1993 due to the collapse of the “bubble economy” and the 5.9 percent decline in 2002 linked to the bursting of the IT bubble in the United States. The fall in ad spending in the four major media sectors was the fourth straight annual decline, with the major media’s combined share in total ad spending dropping 1.6 percentage points to 49.3 percent. By sector, ad spending on newspapers fell 12.5 percent to 827.6 billion yen, television fell 4.4 percent to 1.9092 trillion yen, magazines plunged 11.1 percent to 407.8 billion yen, and radio ad spending dropped 7.3 percent to 154.9 billion yen. Advertising in newspapers fell for a fourth consecutive year in its second double-digit decline following that of 2002. As a result, the share of ad spending in newspapers out of overall ad spending decreased by 1.1 percentage point to 12.4 percent. The total value of advertising in newspapers, at 827.6 billion yen, was close to the level recorded in 1983. Spending on ads in newspapers surged during the Beijing Summer Olympic Games and the G8 Toyako Summit in Hokkaido, linked with an increase in corporate advertising on the theme of the environment. However, the downtrend in advertising in newspapers in recent years was aggravated by the economic slowdown, generating a substantial drop in newspaper advertising. In particular, major Tokyo-based corporate advertisers in the finance/insurance, automobile and some other industries cut back on ad spending, causing a large drop in ad revenues for national newspapers and sports dailies. However, advertising on the Internet soared an impressive 16.3 percent to 698.3 billion yen, with its share in total ad spending climbing from 8.4 percent to 10.4 percent. By type of advertising, search-related ads for Internet sites on personal computers rose by 22.9 percent year-on-year and aggregate mobile advertising grew a hefty 47.0 percent. A Dentsu official commented that despite the ups-and-downs of the business climate, the placement of ads on the Internet stayed solid as advertisers quickly recognized the effects of their advertising. However, the growth of advertising on the Internet slowed in the latter half of 2008 due to the economic setback, resulting in a slowdown of yearly growth for 2008 by 8.1 percentage points from 2007. As part of its annual reports, Dentsu has since 2004 been incorporating annual advertising figures in its forecasts of aggregate ad spending for the coming year. However, in its latest report, Dentsu did not make any such forecast due to the “high probability” that the key elements of any economic forecast will be subject to changes due to a deterioration in the economic climate.
The Supreme Court on Feb. 17 ruled in favor of Nikkei Inc. in rejecting an appeal by two former employees who objected to the company’s internal rule limiting sales of its shares. Presiding Justice Yukio Horigome of the top court's No. 3 Petty Bench said in the ruling that the company’s internal rule is “reasonable and effective.” The decision finalized a string of victories for the Nikkei, which publishes the major business daily the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. The Nikkei had earlier won at the district court and high court. According to the ruling, the newspaper company adopted an employee-based ownership system under the Daily Newspaper Law. The Nikkei’s internal rules stipulate that Nikkei Inc. shares can be sold only to “employees and those concerned” and that sales of its shares must be conducted through the Nihon Keizai Shimbun Kyoei-kai, an internal association of employees that holds the company's shares, at a face value of \100 per share. However, Kentaro Yamamoto, a former Nikkei employee, agreed with Takahiro Wasa, another ex-employee, in September 2005, to sell 400 shares at \1,000 per share to the latter, and sought the company’s approval. The Nikkei did not permit the sales due to the internal rule. The former employees and the company then went to court. In October 2007, the Tokyo District Court refused to approve of the sale of Nikkei shares between the two former employees, citing the internal rule banning such transactions as being established around 1959 and saying the rule was widely recognized among the shareholders. In April 2008, the Tokyo High Court also found the internal rule to be “reasonable,” noting that the employee shareholding system could not be maintained if shares could be sold for floating prices set only at the moment of sale. All five participating Supreme Court justices unanimously supported the ruling. Presiding Justice Horigome said that Nikkei shares are not listed on any stock exchange market and are not marketable. “Nikkei employees who hold Nikkei shares are not exposed to any risk of suffering losses, just as they cannot expect to benefit from any gains from sales of their shares in the future,” he said. He also said in the ruling that the plaintiffs purchased Nikkei shares from the internal association freely and agreed to abide by the Nikkei rule. He dismissed the plaintiffs’ argument that the company internally retained earnings without paying any dividends at all, despite posting sizable profits. “Nikkei’s internal rule in question is neither violating the Corporate Law nor is it offensive to public order and morals. Therefore, it remains effective,” the justice concluded. Pending the top court ruling, Nikkei published a statement in its Feb. 18 issue, saying that the Supreme Court recognized the rationality of the company’s employee-ownership system. “We understand that the top court endorsed our position that the employee-shareholding system is vital to the protection of press freedom and to the maintenance of neutral and fair news reporting,” the statement said.
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