Japan Press Weekly

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2016 July 13 - 19 [POLITICS]

NHK supports Abe gov’t by not reporting on election issues

A survey conducted by a research firm in the broadcast industry shows that the amount of TV reports regarding the July 10 Upper House election during the two weeks before voting day dropped by about 30% from the previous election three years ago. Among the leading TV networks, NHK markedly decreased its coverage.

It is extremely unusual for Japan’s sole public broadcaster not to properly report on a national election which sets the country’s course.

During the three days between July 4 and 6, NHK’s evening news program “News Watch 9” just showed how political party leaders were engaged in the election campaign. On July 7 and 8, it did not mention the election at all.

Meanwhile, on July 7 and 8, commercial broadcasters TBS and TV Asahi took up in their evening news programs some campaign issues such as constitutional revision, the controversial national security legislation, and the serious unemployment problem.

Just as Prime Minister Abe Shinzo did, NHK avoided referring to the issue of constitutional revision throughout the campaign period. However, shortly after pro-constitutional revision forces led by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party gained a two-thirds majority of the seats in the Upper Chamber, NHK began to report on the issue of the Constitution. In the debate aired on the day after the election, NHK prompted the representatives of the governing and opposition parties to focus discussion on the constitutional revision issue.

The public broadcaster has increasingly functioned as a “PR organization” for the government since Momii Katsuto, PM Abe’s close friend, was appointed NHK President in January 2014. This role has grown stronger through the latest electoral campaign.

Hosei University Professor Emeritus Sudo Haruo, specializing in the study of mass media, pointed out that the significant decline in election reporting is attributed to the Abe administration’s intervention in the media. “I hope people concerned with broadcasting will engage in political reporting without yielding to government pressures,” he said.

Past related article:
> Third-party organ blames LDP for pressuring NHK [November 7, 2015]