Independent Reporter Battles Press Club System for Freedom of Access

Like all journalists everywhere, Yu Terasawa needs access to information to do his job. But as that rare thing in Japan -- a freelance investigative journalist -- he is cut off from information reserved for members of the Japan's ubiquitous kisha clubs (press clubs). Following pressure from the European Union, in March kisha clubs finally opened their doors to foreign correspondents. But Japanese freelancers, says Terasawa, are still shut out.

Terasawa has launched a court case against the Japanese government and the kisha club system. He argues that cozy collaboration between journalists and press clubs promotes lazy journalism, protects vested interests and obstructs the work of freelancers like him.

Terasawa is one of Japan's best known investigative journalists thanks to his dogged exposés of police corruption, and he regularly reports on trials. In April 2003, when he tried to cover a police corruption trial in Sapporo city, he was refused a seat in court and even a transcript of the verdict, purely on the grounds that he wasn't a press club member. In July of this year, for the same reason he was again refused a seat in court at a Tokyo trial involving the well-known Takefuji loan company. Terasawa, who wrote articles on Takefuji's alleged unscrupulous business practices, recently won a defamation case against the chairman of the company over Web postings on the Takefuji site that claimed Terasawa used false information in his reports.

The reporter and his team of lawyers began a court case against the Japanese government on Oct. 12. They argue that by discriminating against non-press club members and denying them information, the government is in violation of the constitution, which should guarantee press freedom and equal treatment for all. The first hearing in what is likely to be a lengthy legal process will take place on Dec. 15.

This is Terasawa's second attack on the press club system; a similar case he began in 1999 was the first brought by a Japanese journalist. That case went all the way to the Japanese Supreme Court before being turned down last year. Nevertheless, Terasawa believes the fact that the case reached the Supreme Court is a sign the judiciary is taking the issue seriously.

Terasawa has worked as a freelance journalist for 15 years. He has harsh words for his colleagues at large newspapers and TV stations who, he says, "sit in their allocated spaces waiting to be brought a press release to rewrite." He notes the kisha club system itself is rarely mentioned by the mainstream media, a taboo subject for journalists more worried about protecting their own information cartel than rocking the boat.

The Japanese Newspaper Publisher & Editors Association (NSK) is a staunch defender of the system, arguing in their Kisha Club Guidelines: "Japan's media industry has a history of applying pressure to public institutions reluctant to disclose information by banding together in the form of the kisha club. The kisha club is an institution and system fostered by Japan's media industry for over a century in pursuit of freedom of speech and freedom of press."

International press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, is unimpressed with the system, commenting in its 2004 annual report: "Despite criticism from foreign correspondents, freelance journalists and press freedom organizations, the government and media showed no sign of changing any aspect of this archaic system."

Terasawa is still hopeful of eventual success. The Internet, he says, has made it much easier for the public to get information directly and unmediated by the partnership between kisha clubs and journalists. The role of many of Japan's thousands of kisha clubs is already being undermined.

As for himself, he just wants to have access to the information he needs to do his job as a freelance journalist. This is his second attempt to challenge the kisha club system. "We will keep going to court, no matter how many times we have to do it," he says.

Japan Media Review interviewed Terasawa in Tokyo and by e-mail. The following is an edited transcript.

Japan Media Review: After losing your previous case, do you think you have a better chance this time?

Yu Terasawa: It took two years for the Supreme Court to consider our previous case. The Supreme Court only deliberates on cases involving the constitution. If they thought that it was clearly not an infringement of the constitution, they would have rejected it quickly. I think the Supreme Court probably had some doubts about letting the system continue the way it is at the moment.

JMR: Do you think you will win eventually?

Terasawa: It's only the first stage of the court case, but I think it's obvious that there is something wrong with kisha club members being able to reserve seats in court and get verdict transcripts while freelancers like me, weekly magazine writers and foreign correspondents cannot. Eventually we will win. Until then, we will keep going.

JMR: You are actually fighting a court case against the court system itself. Is that especially difficult?

Terasawa: We are asking the court system to acknowledge its own mistakes, so yes, that is difficult. But when you look at it from the point of view of common sense, they have no choice but to acknowledge the mistake.

It is a question of face for the officials. Even if the court doesn't award me damages in their verdict, they could still say it is a problem that seats and text copies of the verdict aren't provided for everyone. That way they can preserve their pride and save face at the same time.

JMR: You have always worked as a freelancer. How are freelancers viewed in Japan by the public and mainstream media?

Terasawa: They are viewed in a completely different way than in the West. When it comes down to it, any person who isn't a member of an organization of some sort is not a respectable person. Maybe it has changed a little recently, but that way of thinking has been around for a long time.

It's not just the world of journalism. For example, if someone asked you what you did for a living and you say you are a freelance journalist, writer, manga artist or designer, it's almost the same thing as saying you are unemployed.

JMR: In most areas of employment in Japan, the "job for life" system has gone; many young people are following more flexible career paths. Is the same thing happening in the media? Are there more freelancers now?

Terasawa: I don't think the number of freelance journalists is going up, in particular. It's probably going down. The media are lagging behind the rest of society. The main reason is that newspapers are still centered on articles that come from "announcements." Often, journalists don't do their own research.

The "announcements" are not official; they are "leaks." In the evening after a briefing or press conference, a journalist will meet with the PR representative or police officer and get the "behind-the-scenes" announcement, and attribute it to an "unnamed source." The journalists haven't checked it out themselves. The police representative, government official or company head has anonymously asked the journalist to write it.

JMR: Is it easy to become a freelance journalist?

Terasawa: It is very difficult for young people who want to be investigative journalists, because there is no one to teach them. I have been doing this job for 15 years now, but I had to teach myself.

By and large, sending articles on spec isn't welcomed. For the most part, publishers request articles and place them in the magazine. Also, there are virtually no awards that beginner nonfiction writers can apply for. I think that's why there are pretty much no opportunities for beginner investigative reporters to publish their articles in magazines, etc.

JMR: Are there unions for freelancers?

Terasawa: No organization that stands out. Recently, I have thought that a union that could represent hundreds of writers is probably necessary.

JMR: Have you ever wanted or tried to join a kisha club?

Terasawa: I've never wanted to join a kisha club, but at the time of our first court case we were refused a copy of the summary of the verdict because were weren't part of the kisha club. Then I thought, OK, it would be a good idea to try and join this club to get the information ... but I was refused. I was told that "journalists who aren't from newspapers or TV can't join the kisha club."

I've never thought I should join a kisha club and simply be passed sheets of paper from this police force, government office or news wire ... then just collate it a little, summarize it and write my story to finish. I have never once thought that I wanted to do that kind of work. I'm not interested.

JMR: Are there kisha club members who are critical of the system, perhaps who would rather go out and do their own newsgathering?

Terasawa: I don't think there are any journalists like that; they wouldn't become journalists in the first place. Perhaps they think like that when they leave university, but they soon enter the kisha clubs. They know that if they just take up their allocated space, people will bring them the press releases to rewrite. They think that that is a journalist's job -- and the money is good and it is easy.

JMR: Do you think newspaper readers are aware of how the kisha club system works?

Terasawa: They don't know about the kisha club system. It's the most taboo topic for newspaper journalists. The most important thing for the newspapers is to make it look to the readers like they have been out working as hard as they can to gather information from morning till night before writing their article. If their readers knew that they had just picked up a piece of paper from the police summarizing some incident, no one would buy newspapers.

JMR: How long do you think the kisha club system can continue as it is?

Terasawa: The spread of the Internet is having an effect. Industry and government officials have their own Web sites, all the press releases are posted there. Up to now there was no Internet, so when officials wanted to pass information to the public they had to do it through the newspapers and TV. People who want to can see the original, detailed press release on those Web sites. To that extent the role of the kisha clubs is slowly disappearing.

The press clubs are only really strong in places like the Imperial Household Agency and the police where information can't circulate freely. The reason that the Imperial Household Agency and police kisha clubs are strong is not so much that the kisha clubs themselves are strong, but that the Imperial Household Agency and police give limited information only to the kisha clubs. I think that is because they would like to control the flow of information.

In short, the most important thing for the Imperial Household Agency and police is to support their organizations; you could say that they use the kisha clubs for that purpose and only disseminate information that suits them.

JMR: Has the EU's success in getting access for foreign journalists helped Japanese freelancers?

Terasawa: There wasn't any effect. The Japanese government had to show Europe and America that Japan is an open country with the same standards. Asian media and we freelancers are still being discriminated against.

I think it is definitely easier for foreign correspondents from Europe and America to gather news in Japan than it is for we Japanese freelancers.

JMR: Are there any advantages to being a freelancer?

Terasawa: There are very few completely freelance journalists. Most people have contracts of one sort or another with magazines which gives them enough money to live. Often that makes it difficult for them to find the time to write what they really want. There are very few people like me who would write for anyone.