Critical Analysis 7-International Media

Japan and Britain can be seen to be similar in many ways, industrial, literate and democratic. But if we dig a little deeper there are a multitude of differences in the structure of the cultures, which directly affects the way the separate medias work.

Japan is regarded as the most literate nation in the world, a staggering 99% literacy rate, and the circulation of its’ five major newspapers reaching 40 million per day. Unfortunately Japanese media has huge failings in its’ role as the watchdog of the state, being referred to as becoming the lapdog instead.

There is an element of corruption in the relationship between government and press in Japan. Many offices the papers occupy are rented from the government at rock bottom prices, so if the papers were to criticise the government they would effectively also be criticising their landlords.

Only journalists from the main newspapers are invited to be members of the ‘kisha’ or press clubs, gaining exclusive access to the people who make the news, such as government officials etc. Many instances of journalists, and in turn the papers they work for, ignoring major scandals and events that put bad light on the government are reported, as doing so will mean they will be removed from the kisha and then be out of the loop, so to speak.

The Japanese writing style is objective to the point of erasing any personality from the articles, which are usually written anonymously without bylines, completely different to the western world. As is Japanese business. Businessmen are far more concerned with security and stability, as opposed to the profit driven westerners ideal of minimum input, maximum return.