Japan Press Weekly

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2016 June 8 - 14 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

LDP Toyama City assemblyman uses force on woman journalist

The head of the Liberal Democratic Party group in the Toyama City Assembly on June 9 pushed down a woman journalist of the local daily Kitanippon Shimbun and took her interview notes from her by force. The paper immediately filed a police report accusing him of assault and theft.

The reporter in question was in the LDP anteroom. She was gathering information on an ordinance bill which will increase the assemblypersons’ monthly salary by 100,000 yen to 700,000 yen. The bill, however, has been under fire from Toyama citizens criticizing it for lacking a sense of money.

The Japanese Communist Party members’ group of the Assembly on June 10 offered suggestions to the Assembly speaker that LDP assemblyman Nakagawa Isamu explain to the Assembly what exactly happened and why he resorted to violence against the reporter. The JCP group stated, “It is unforgivable for him to have used intimidation and physical violence in violation of the public’s right to be informed and the right to freedom of reporting/newsgathering. It is also unforgivable for the assembly to raise its members’ salaries without offering a sufficient explanation to local residents.”

Unions protest against violent deeds

The Japan Federation of Newspaper Workers’ Unions (Shimbun Roren), the local Shimbun Roren, and the Kitanippon Shimbun workers’ union on June 10 jointly published a statement in protest against the violent behavior and obstruction of newsgathering efforts resorted to by the LDP assemblypersons’ group head.

The statement points out that taking notes from reporters infringes on the freedom of the press, criticizing this as political interference in legitimate newsgathering activities and as a serious breach of press freedom and the people’s right to know.

It proclaims that the union of the local paper will never accept violent interference in media reporting, and demands that all city assemblypersons under Toyama citizens’ mandate respect information collection activities of the news media.