NHK: Can It Be Fixed?

In Washington, D.C. PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) has been sharply criticized for its supposed liberal bias by Republicans, while Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party seems to constantly look the other way when it comes to scandal-tainted public broadcaster NHK.

Katsuji Ebisawa, a former chairman of NHK, resigned after embezzlement scandals involving its employees, although the nature of NHK has not changed much because "his henchmen still wield much influence in the newsroom," according to Yasushi Kawasaki, a former political reporter at NHK and now a leading critic of the public broadcaster.

Like many leaders of other news organizations, Ebisawa used to report on major LDP factions. Kawasaki, however, said the disgraced NHK ex-chair was "not a political reporter, but a politician boosting his backroom influence."

Akira Uozumi, a former reporter for Kyodo News and best-selling author, investigated NHK's problems and also concluded, "NHK should not be considered to be a news organization" because of a symbiotic relationship with the LDP. Kawasaki agreed, though he said he had once worked for NHK, believing it was in fact a news organization.

Kawasaki was once a promising journalist at NHK, where he worked from 1959 to 1991. He covered the prime minister's office as a top reporter and served as a bureau chief in Bonn, then West Germany. While covering Japanese politics, he very often posed hard questions to leaders. His style so unnerved some politicians, that on several occasions his worried-looking boss told him not to ask the Japanese officials anything at all. But Kawasaki ignored his boss’s plea because, he said, he was just doing what a journalist was supposed to do.

However, after his coverage of the faction of the late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka was pulled off the air because of pressure from the LDP, Kawasaki was forced out of a career track at the network. Kawasaki’s report claimed that, even though Tanaka was arrested on a charge of taking bribes from the Lockheed Corporation, his faction was still boosting its power, trying to exert political leverage over the outcome of the trial. In the end, Kawasaki was kicked out of the newsroom and transferred to the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, where he was given no job, he said.

The public relations department at NHK insisted that although Kawasaki said he "was demoted, NHK places the right person in the right job in personnel transfer."

His demotion was 30 years ago, and the scandals surrounding NHK have continued to affect its news practices, said Kawasaki, who has taught journalism at three universities and written several books.

Kawasaki agreed to discuss his history at NHK, the problems regarding the kisha club system, and the state of the Japanese media today.

JMR: How did you feel when you found you could no longer work in the newsroom?

YK: Never did I imagine that could happen to me. It was a bolt out of the blue. On the very first day at the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, I was appalled to learn that there was no desk and no chair for me. I was given no job there. I had nothing to do.

I covered the prime minister's office, and also became a bureau chief at NHK in Bonn, then West Germany. So, I was one of the top reporters among 800 staff members. I was doing the right thing. However, I was relegated to the office where there was no job, no desk and no chair. The demotion clearly sent me the message: I should quit. NHK flatly said that they "placed the right person in the right job."

I had to go through a lot of hardships. I thought about leaving NHK so many times. But the reason I didn't was an issue of my family. I had two children who were going to high school and university at that time. I wanted to support them. And also I was not confident that I could make ends meet by writing articles.

Seeing me depressed, a friend of mine handed me a book titled "Making News" by Martin Mayer. "Mayer's argument in the book is exactly what you are saying," he said. For example, Mayer argued that it is journalists, not authorities, who decide what is news, and that it is a public relations department that writes things as authorities want.

Then that friend came up with one idea: I myself could not write what I had to go through at NHK, however, I could translate the [book’s] same argument as mine. Then, I decided to follow his suggestion and start working on its translation with the help of another friend. Mayer's book reassured me that I had done the right thing.

JMR: What made you start teaching journalism at universities?

YK: First of all, while I was at the institute, Japan Women's University wanted me to teach one journalism class, just once a week. I translated Mayer's book and got teaching experience at the university, which made it easy for me to teach at another school. Then, I was offered a full-time job from Otani Women's University in Osaka after I retired NHK. Because I was also writing articles for a monthly magazine, one radio station in the city, MBS (Mainichi Broadcasting System), which read such articles, offered me a position as a commentator on politics and media for their evening program. I had been doing that for more than 10 years after NHK. After Otani Women's University, I started teaching journalism at Sugiyama Women's University in Nagoya.

JMR: You say in the book that reporters who cover a specific faction of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are likely to be loyal to that faction. Why do you think that happens?

YK: They come to recognize that listening to a boss of the faction can be of benefit to them rather than listening to ones in the newsroom. That is because some factions have the power to control the top of news organizations. Unfortunately, such reporters tend to rise to a position of the upper echelon. Even if a news organization likes some reporter who covers one faction, a kingmaker like the late former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka or some other influential politicians do not like the reporter, they could say to the organization, "Fire him!" Then, that reporter will become someone like me.

JMR: You also say in the book that one of the most serious problems in the media is the leaders in newsroom.

YK: That's right. There are still some young people who come to work in journalism with a sense of mission. But many bosses undermine their willingness to work. Then young workers gradually come to be more aware of politics in the newsroom and try to curry favor with their bosses.

JMR: Many people criticize NHK for its symbiotic relationship with the LDP. They point out that its news programs do not get comments from those who are critical of the cabinet of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Neither does NHK let them appear on its programs.

YK: Absolutely. They have a kind of list of political analysts, showing this one is a "guy to beware of."

[NHK rejected such criticism, saying "NHK invites people with a variety of backgrounds such as those who are critical of the administration and who are not to our news programs and Sunday talk show, and we let them express themselves freely."]

Japan is a horrid country. You also see many problems of plagiarism. The other day, a director at TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc.) plagiarized many passages from major newspapers and used them for his columns on the Web site of TBS. [To make matters worse, at first that director apparently asked a freelance writer to take the rap for him.] Why so [much] plagiarism? That is because we have more people without aspirations.

Recently, my friends who used to work at NHK came to my home and said, "I keenly felt that the root of the whole problem at NHK is that workers get too high a salary." I agreed. NHK has flourished because of its success in broadcasting satellite. Naturally, its employees want to keep that level of income and keep their living standards. Employees' salaries used to be much lower 20 to 30 years ago.

JMR: You talk about plagiarism, journalists with no aspirations and the decline of the mainstream media. How do you think these have affected our society?

YK: That results in the rise of fascism, I would say. These days more people in newsrooms feel that as long as they listen to their bosses, they are fine. Even if some employees are doing their job, saying to themselves, "This may be wrong," they think they are fine because others are also doing it. Fewer and fewer people have the courage to say, "I believe this is wrong." But more and more people do their job, currying favor with their bosses. So they are sending more similar news [which is not critical of authorities] to the Japanese public. And the public unknowingly gets used to it. I believe such news causes more people to lack critical thinking skills in society. I have to say that lays down the root of fascism. These people tend to think as long as TV programs are funny, that's fine. [Recently more and more comedians appear on TV programs including talk shows and news programs. Some comedians, like Akio Ishii, are former newscasters.]

JMR: Then Japanese people find themselves surrounded by many problems in society don't they?

YK: That's exactly what we are seeing right now. When I was working in the NHK newsroom, there were some staff members who said to me, "This does not make news without good footage." I always retorted, "News doesn't mean only something with footage." Apparently there are no such arguments in the newsroom. Speaking of something in politics that makes news now, their answer is Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Before Mr. Koizumi, Japanese prime ministers did not often come to television and talk. But Mr. Koizumi does almost every day. He makes just a few remarks and leaves. The media let him say only what he wants to. Then, just because the Japanese top leader says something, they use that footage. When they continue to do this, the image of the prime minister gets more powerful. Then, more politicians also try to take advantage of TV to say only what they want to. Most of what they are saying is propaganda.

JMR: That sounds like NHK viewers are buying their propaganda. As you know, ironically, more people depend on NHK news for their information.

YK: Certainly. Moreover, some politicians are less willing to talk to print media these days. Instead, they are more willing to talk to broadcast media. Some politicians give reporters some information but tell them that that is not for the record. But later they talk about it on TV. Suddenly, that is no longer off the record. I believe that the media themselves are blamed for creating such odd situations. And it is NHK that spearheaded the trend.

I think it is the broadcast media that destroy Japanese political systems and ruin a society.