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2021 September 1 - 7 TOP3 [JCP]

Daily Akahata wins journalism award for scoop on PM Suga's intervention in Science Council of Japan

The daily Akahata was awarded a prize by the Japan Congress of Journalists (JCJ) on September 3 for having exclusively reported on Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide's intervention in the Science Council of Japan and a subsequent campaign against the government intervention in academia.

Akahata won a JCJ Award for the second consecutive year following another scoop and follow-up reports by the Akahata Sunday Edition on former PM Abe Shinzo's use of government-funded cherry blossom-viewing parties to further his own interests.

Akahata dated October 1 of last year reported, "PM Suga intervenes in Science Council, unprecedentedly barring several nominees who are critical of the national security legislation from membership."

Akahata then covered stories and protests by a wide range of researchers, organizations, and citizens while running a campaign to criticize the unfair intervention by the Prime Minister's Office in academic freedom.

The JCJ explained that the Akahata scoop exposing the unlawful action committed by the government was then followed by other media outlets' follow-up reports, leading to the situation where PM Suga was unable to properly respond to Diet questions regarding the cherry blossom-viewing party scandal.

Past related articles:
> Science Council of Japan president says Suga’s nomination refusal is ‘serious problem’ [October 2, 2020]
> Sunday Akahata’s report on cherry blossom-viewing party scandal wins grand prize for journalism [September 9, 2020]