Japan Press Weekly

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2023 March 22 - 28 [POLITICS]

JCP urges gov’t to abide by Broadcast Act’s principle of banning political intervention in broadcasting contents

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Ito Gaku on March 23 at a House of Councilors Budget Committee meeting said that the government should abide by the Broadcast Act’s principle that prohibits public power from intervening in broadcasting contents.

Ito pointed out that the law was established based on lessons learned from history that in prewar and wartime Japan, the government’s propaganda was delivered to the general public through radio broadcasts. He noted that at the time when the legislation was enacted, Amishima Tsuyoshi, chairman of the Radio Wave Control Committee, explained that the government will neither conduct censorship nor exert control over broadcasting contents.

Ito pointed out that in 2014, however, the Abe government began imposing its demands on broadcasting programs. As an example, the JCP lawmaker cited that on November 18, 2014, Prime Minister Abe accused a TV program of being politically biased as it included public criticism of the “Abenomics” economic policy. Two days later, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party sent to Japan’s sole public broadcaster NHK and five commercial TV companies a document calling for maintaining a “neutral and fair stance” in their reports on electoral campaigns.

Ito said that as evidenced in the latest revelation regarding the Communication Ministry’s internal documents, the Prime Minister’s Office under the Abe administration put pressure on the ministry to change the ministry’s interpretation that Article 4 of the broadcast law requires a judgement on the “political neutrality” based on “all programs of a broadcaster”, and to determine the neutrality based on “one single program”. In response to the JCP lawmaker, Prime Minister Kishida said that the law’s ideal is maintained.

On the same day at a meeting of the House of Representatives Constitution Commission, JCP representative Akamine Seiken noted that the government in 2016 warned broadcasters of its authority to license broadcasting businesses, and said that such an act tramples on the freedom of expression in broadcasting.

The JCP lawmaker stressed, “The government should follow the fundamental principle of the broadcast law and strictly refrain from intervening in broadcasting contents.”

Past related article:
> Abe gov't intervened in content of TV news programs [March 14, 2023]