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December 2004
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* EU Drops Kisha Club Complaint
* Top Court Dismisses Claim for NHK Correction
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*Topics
--Press Photographers' Associations Announce 2003 Awards
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Story of the Month>>>
Top Writers Debate the Issues
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EU Drops Kisha Club Complaint

The Delegation of the European Commission in Japan on Oct. 29 submitted its annual "EU Priority Proposals" for regulatory reforms to the Japanese Foreign Ministry. The latest report is noteworthy for finally dropping the demand for the abolition of the Japanese kisha club(Press club) system that it had made in its reports submitted in 2002 and 2003.

The Nihon Shinbun Kyokai (NSK) had responded to the previous demands by urging all kisha clubs to permit duly accredited reporters from foreign media to attend official news conferences. NSK argued that such action would eliminate the grounds for the EU complaint against the kisha clubs.

The EU delegation had previously maintained that Japan¡Çs press club system hindered newsgathering by foreign media and restricted free trade in information between Japan and Europe in a way that had broad negative consequences for domestic and international consumers of information about Japan.

The EU had demanded that all foreign correspondents holding Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs press cards be allowed to attend official media events on an equal footing with domestic journalists and said that Japan's press club system had to be abolished to remove restrictions on the free trade of information.

Prompted by the EU demand, NSK assigned the matter to a press-club issues subcommittee of its Editorial Affairs Committee in October 2002. In December 2003, NSK issued an official response, arguing that the kisha club system functioned effectively as an institution to ensure the public's right to know and that there was absolutely no need to abolish it.

In March 2004, NSK called on all press clubs to permit reporters with Foreign Ministry press cards to attend official news conferences. At the same time, the Foreign Ministry asked media relations officials at government agencies and ministries to facilitate the attendance of such journalists at all official news conferences.

The EU eventually indicated that it was not necessarily demanding the abolition of the press club system, but was calling for changes in its operations to allow foreign media access. The EU also hinted some time ago that it might drop its abolition demand if NSK's calls for greater access produced tangible results. The lack of any demand about the kisha club system in this year's EU report is being greeted by NSK as a sign of the success of its alternate solution.




Top Court Dismisses Claim for NHK Correction

The Supreme Court on Nov. 25 dismissed a 58-year-old woman's lawsuit against NHK, reversing a lower court ruling that had ordered NHK to air a correction to a 1996 program that referred to her divorce. But the top court did uphold an order that NHK compensate the woman for damages caused by defamation.

The Supreme Court ruled that the woman did not have any statutory civil right to demand that a correction be broadcast. It thereby reversed a July 2001 Tokyo High Court ruling.

However, the top court did uphold the woman¡Çs claim for damages due to defamation and the infringement of her privacy, approving an order that NHK pay her 1.3 million yen in compensation.

One day after the Supreme Court ruling, NHK broadcast an effective correction and apology as part of its report on the decision.

The case resulted from a special NHK program aired on June 8, 1996 that featured the stories of husbands whose wives were presented as having unexpectedly told them they wanted divorces. The complainant's case was mentioned at the beginning of the program in a voice-over narration that alleged that she had suddenly, one morning, told her husband that she wanted a divorce.

Her husband and son appeared on the program. The woman said the program's producers did not interview her and the program depicted the process of their divorce in an entirely one-sided manner. The woman sued, demanding that NHK pay her 4.1 million yen in compensation for defamation and air a correction of the story.

The Tokyo District Court, in a November 1998 ruling, rejected the woman¡Çs claim. However, on appeal, the Tokyo High Court ruled that NHK should have either concealed the identity of the woman, her former husband and son, or should have made a real effort to present the facts fairly by contacting both sides. The high court ordered NHK to air a correction about its story.

The Supreme Court ended up resolving a main point of dispute on how to interpret Clause 1 and Article 4 of the Broadcasting Law that obligates broadcasters to air corrections when a victim demands one over the broadcast of false information. The high court ruled that the law should be interpreted as giving a victim a statutory civil right to demand the broadcast of a correction.

The Supreme Court ruled that the relevant clause of the Broadcasting Law aims to direct broadcasters to serve the public good and thereby promote the healthy development of broadcasting that is protected as a form of freedom of expression. It said that the clause in question obliges broadcasters to voluntarily air corrections as a public duty to ensure freedom of expression.

Its ruling concluded that the clause that states that a victim can request the broadcast of a correction should be interpreted as a starting point for an investigation into the credibility of the information broadcast and then should lead to a decision on issuing a correction.

In addition to her demand for the broadcast of a correction, the woman also demanded the broadcast of an apology under Article 723 of the Civil Code. However, the high court ruled that a payment of compensation in redress and the broadcast of a correction would be sufficient to restore the woman¡Çs honor.

On the day of the Nov. 25 decision, an NHK spokesman said, "We consider our argument to have been accepted by the ruling in that it dismissed the demand for the broadcast of a correction. As for the issues of defamation and infringement of privacy, we recognize that our argument was not accepted, and we will study whether we to now voluntarily air a correction.¡É The next day, an NHK announcer reporting the details of the top court decision devoted about five minutes of a broadcast to explain factual inaccuracies in NHK's original report about the woman and made an apology.

The woman's lawyer said, ¡ÈThe Supreme Court ruling denies her statutory civil right to demand the broadcast of a correction, citing a need to ensure the broadcaster¡Çs independence. It then argues that to protect a broadcaster¡Çs independence, criminal punishment is also undesirable. In sum, the court's ruling is tantamount to saying that the woman should have filed a criminal complaint instead of a civil action. We agree that restrictions on the freedom of expression should be avoided, but we are not satisfied with the top court's decision. We do appreciate NHK¡Çs voluntary airing of the correction. But NHK really should have confirmed the facts at the time of its original broadcast. Its correction, made nine years after the program, has come far too late.¡É




Topics.......Topics.......Topics........

Regional Press Photographers' Associations Announce 2004 Awards

Press photographers associations across Japan have started announcing their annual award winners for 2004.

In this issue, we cover the winning photographs from the Hokkaido Press Photographers Association and the Kansai Press Photographers Association. Toward the end of February, we will feature the award-winning photographs of the associations in the Tokyo, Tohoku, Chubu, Kansai (Osaka) and Kyushu regions.


The Hokkaido Press Photographers Association (80 members from 17 member companies) gave its top prize to a photograph by Masahiro Nakamura of Doshin Sports of students from Hokkaido rushing the mound after winning this summer¡Çs national high school baseball tournament at Koshien Stadium. It was the first-ever victory by a high school in Hokkaido.

Nakamura said that he aimed to the catch that moment of joy upon victory. ¡ÈI have to thank the students for giving me the chance to take this photo,¡É he said.




The Kansai Press Photographers Association (1,081 members from 76 member companies) awarded its top newspaper/news agency prize for a photograph by Satoshi Ishii of the Mainichi Shimbun¡Çs Osaka head office. The photo, taken from the air, shows 37 passengers on top of a tourist bus that stands submerged in floodwaters in Maizuru City, Kyoto Prefecture, after a major typhoon in October.

The passengers were huddled together, waiting for rescue workers. The photograph shows their will to survive as they encourage each other to hold on despite their fear of the rising waters.

Thanking the association for the honor, Ishii admitted that he took the photo amid the helplessness of knowing there was nothing he could do to rescue the passengers. Ishii said he had hoped that by snapping the photo he could save all those who could be saved and stop anything that could be stopped. ¡ÈI was so relieved when they were all safely rescued. I only hope that I can win an award for a photo of a positive scene the next time around.¡É

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Story of the Month>>>
Top Writers Debate the Issues
About 60 editorial writers and commentators from NSK member newspaper companies and TV broadcasters gathered in Tokyo on Nov. 8 to discuss current issues.

On the discussion agenda were the U.S. presidential election's impact on Japan-U.S. relations, the privatization of postal services, and the effect of the government¡Çs fiscal decentralization plan on compulsory education.

Prime ministerial advisor and LDP heavyweight Taku Yamazaki was the guest speaker on the U.S. presidential election and its impact on Japan-U.S. relations. Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara talked about fiscal decentralization and its effect on compulsory education.

Foreseeing further expansion of the ¡ÈPax Americana¡É after U.S. President George W. Bush¡Çs reelection, Yamazaki said Japan should stick to its policy of international collaboration and U.N.-centered diplomacy, without being limited by U.S. diplomatic strategies.

He said that Japan should push to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and work to make the U.S. recognize the importance of the world body, thereby contributing to international security and order.

On Iraq, Yamazaki said the Japanese Self-Defense Force deployment in Samawah, southern Iraq, is providing valuable moral support for the U.S., which is becoming increasingly isolated. ¡ÈIf the U.S. withdraws, Iraq will end up being a hotbed of international terrorism,¡É he warned.

Nobuyuki Yoshida, executive director and chief editorial writer at the Sankei Shimbun, said he believes that Japan-U.S. relations will remain stable over the coming several years because the governments of the two countries share conservative values. He also predicted that the inclination toward conservatism would become dominant in Japan, leading to stronger moves to change the Constitution and the Basic Education Law.

On the contrary, Kazuhiro Kobayashi, editor in chief of the Tokyo Shimbun, cited mounting dissatisfaction in Europe about U.S. President Bush¡Çs reelection. He also said that the collapse of the support base of Japan¡Çs governing Liberal Democratic Party and the split in the leadership of the largest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, will destabilize Japan-U.S. relations. ¡ÈSuch chaos will prevail for some time, and under the circumstances, there will be no progress on the proposed revisions to the Constitution,¡É he said.

On privatizing the postal services, Kazuo Mori, deputy chief editorial writer at the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, summarized the latest developments and explained the government¡Çs privatization program adopted in September.

¡ÈIn the case of privatizing the national railways, it was much easier for people to understand the need to privatize due to the rudeness of station employees and frequent strikes by railway workers. But, this is not the case with the postal services.¡É ¡ÈSome of the roughly 350 trillion yen, held as postal savings and collected as postal life insurance premiums is funneled into semi-governmental organizations. But the problems with that situation are quite abstract and the public cannot understand why postal services need to be privatized,¡É he said.

Senior editorial writers at local newspapers also discussed their difficulties in addressing the postal privatization issue.

Akira Mizokoshi, deputy chief editorial writer at the Nishi-Nihon Shimbun, said that although the ultimate goal of privatization is justifiable, local communities are more concerned about the future of their neighborhood post offices than any grand design.

Takaharu Hanajima, executive director and editor in chief of the Shinano Mainichi Shimbun, said that his newspaper is using its editorials to advocate universal postal services and the maintenance of postal service networks. ¡ÈWe are neither opposing nor supporting the privatization plan. We are only calling for the maintenance of the status quo,¡É he said.

On the issue of fiscal decentralization and its effect on the compulsory education system, Tokyo's Ishihara told the meeting that the Association of Prefectural Governors has proposed slashing state subsidies worth about 3.2 trillion yen, including about 850 million yen intended for compulsory education. Ishihara said he is against abolishing state subsidies for compulsory education, even if they are to be replaced by a transfer to local governments of some of the central government's rights to collect taxes.

Takenori Shiino, the chief editorial writer of the Tokushima Shimbun, said that local governments, with few local sources for tax revenues, are unable to effectively deal with the planned cuts in state subsidies. Mizokoshi of the Nishi-Nihon Shimbun said his newspaper is demanding that decentralization be separated from the issue of state subsidies for compulsory education to avoid a regional discrepancy in the quality of education. Nobuyuki Nagaoka, a deputy chief editorial writer at the Kahoku Shimbun, said that he favors decentralization because it would allow local governments to make their own decisions on matters that cannot be handled by the central government.




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