News Media and News Sources in Japan
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News Media and News Sources in Japan Oi, Shinji(Nihon University) 1.Introduction This article examines the relationships between journalists and their news sources(especially Kisha[reporters] clubs) in Japan, the impact of the latter on journalists’ products and professional practices, and considers other prob- lems affecting the Japanese news media. Most social scientists who study the news speak of how journalists“con - struct the news,”“make news” or“socially construct reality.” In a very basic sense, journalists write the words that turn up in the newspapers or on the screen as stories. The stories we call news are not created by government offi- cials or cultural forces, and are not“reality” magically transforming itself into textual signs, but rather are literally composed by flesh-and-blood journalists (Schudson, 2005). This view is not shared by professional journalists. 2.Review of Literature Over the decades scholars have studied and analyzed the relationship be- tween journalists and their sources to gauge the balance of power existing be- tween them. The relationship between the media and the exercise of political and ideological power, specifically by governments who attempt to define and 75 manage the flow of information, are critically important to the study of news sources. By analyzing the relationship between journalists and sources, an un- derstanding of how journalism relates to society at large can be gained (Berkowitz, 1997). In addition, at the heart of journalism studies sits a study of the relationship between journalism and society(Franklin et al., 2010). The making of news, unlike other forms of production, relies on input from individuals and organizations outside the formal news organizations in which journalists work. Such individuals and organizations are not paid in the usual sense of that word for their contributions and they are do not have managerial authority(Franklin et al., 2010). In general, they are called“sources” or“news sources.” News stories are unimaginable without news sources in liberal capi- talistic democracies, and most of them arrive linked to the individuals and insti- tutions that provided them. Unattributed news draws suspicion, making both journalists and readers uneasy (Carlson and Franklin, 2011). News sources are the deep, dark secret of the power of the news media and much of this power is exercised not by news institutions themselves but by the sources that feed them information(Schudson, 2003). While the sociology of news production has long focused on interactions be- tween journalists and sources, the study of journalists and their news sources has drawn its roots from questions about bias, power, and influence(Berkowitz, 2009). Early work dealt with routines in which journalists acted as gatekeepers controlling entry into news discourse(White, 1950) or the functional roles of sources and journalists(Gieber and Johnson, 1972). To understand news, we have to understand who the“someones” are who act as sources, and how journalists deal with them. Ericson et al.(1989) notes,“News is a product of transactions between journalists and their sources…and News represents who are the au- thorized knowers and what are their authorized versions of reality.” Thus, a key question in the early literature concerned whether journalists or sources exert greater influence in shaping the news(Berkowitz, 2009). When considering news and sources, two interrelated dimensions emerge around journalistic practices and products. Firstly, the study of sources focuses on the relationships between journalists and sources. A number of works have 76 マス・コミュニケーション研究 No.80 2012 employed a variety of sophisticated methods, including content analysis and ethnography, to explore the interactions of journalists and sources in the 1970s and early 1980s. Sigal(1973) finds that journalists rely on routine channels to gather the news efficiently, argues that“news is not what happens, but what someone says has happened or will happen…and news is, after all, not what journalists think, but〔what〕 their sources say, and is mediated by news organi- zations, journalistic routine and conventions, which screen out many of the per- sonal predilections of individual journalists.”(1986, pp. 25-29). Gans(1979) ex- plores the relationships between journalists and sources and suggests“It takes two to tango” but“sources usually lead.” Journalists typically object to this characterization, arguing that it implies an overly dominant role for sources. Getting too close to sources offends a key professional principle, and risks blunt- ing journalists’ critical edge transforming the journalistic watchdog into a pub- lic-relations lapdog(Franklin et al., 2010). Like Sigal, Gans explores the complexity of the relationship between jour- nalists and sources, noting that:“sources, journalists, and audiences coexist in a system, although it is closer to a tug of war than a functionally interrelated or- ganism”(p. 81). Still, both journalists and sources stand to gain from participa- tion. Journalists seek out sources that are both available and suitable, which serves to reinforce patterned sourcing practices. As a result of repetition, the authority of certain sources is bolstered—making them likely to be called on as sources again—while other voices are continually excluded. This occurs even as journalists“harbor a pervasive distrust of their sources, since so many come to them with self-serving motives that they are not always inclined to be com- pletely honest”(p. 130). On the other hand, Gandy(1982) provides an“information subsidy” con- cept understood as“efforts by policy actors to increase the consumption of per- suasive messages by reducing their costs.” He argues that information sources offer a form of subsidy to news organizations via press releases, press confer- ences, VNRs(Video News Releases), press briefings, and lobbying. This enables them to reduce the costs of news-gathering and hence to maintain profitability in the context of declines in circulations and advertising revenues for newspa- News Media and News Sources in Japan 77 pers. News subsidies offer the prospect of not merely“cheap news” but“free news”(Franklin et al., 2010). Essentially, the relationship between journalists and their sources has long been described as a battle for power over public opinion and public consent (Anderson, Peterson and David, 2005). To focus only on public opinion and public consent when considering the relationship between them is to neglect some of the more long-term, lasting impact on culture and the meanings it contains. The concept of framing is one way to consider the impact of journalists and their sources on meaning(Pan and Kosciki, 2001). Thinking of news meanings like this suggests that issues can be discussed in specific ways, with specific boundaries applied which divide those which meanings are included in the discussion from those are beyond its scope(Berkowitz, 2009). Another perspective on meanings connected to the relationship between journalists and their sources comes from sources’ responsiveness to their“in - terpretive communities”(Berkowitz and TerKeust, 1999; Zelizer, 1993). An inter- pretive community represents a cultural location where meaning are construct- ed, shared, and reconstructed during the course of everyday life(Berkowitz, 2009). In total, from a sociological perspective in the relationship between journal- ists and their sources, the interaction-centered journalist-source“tug of war” depicted by Gans(1979) has been supplanted by the text-centered perspective of elite sources as“primary definers”(Hall et al., 1978; Carlson and Franklin, 2011). For example, Schlesinger(1990) criticizes studies of media that see the process of news production as beginning in the newsroom rather than in the halls of power as being“too media-centric.” Ericson et al.(1989) move away from a media-centered approach to studying journalist-source relations, and instead seek to understand the perspective of the sources(Carlson and Franklin, 2011). 3.Previous studies in Japan Most Japanese journalism research is difficult to compare cross-nationally because of the objectives and methods of the studies. Because most Japanese 78 マス・コミュニケーション研究 No.80 2012 media generally have national audiences, most research has focused on specific aspects of and practices within the country. Research that uses surveys similar to other countries, or work that places Japanese news media in an international context, is less common. The first study on Japanese journalists was conducted in the early 1980s by Kim(1981) . In The Japanese Journalist, Kim studied a limited number of re- porters and government officials, largely through interviews and field research. Kim made it clear how reporters depend on official news sources in news pro- duction. He discussed not only the highly competitive entrance examination and the on-the-job training but also role conceptions and other orientations of Japa- nese reporters. Feldman(1993) used surveys and interviews to analyze interrelationships between members of the Diet and political journalists. He found that the nature of political reporting was affected by these interrelationships, and concluded that Kisha clubs were the ultimate factor to be considered in any attempt to understand how Japanese journalists covered political events. Cooper-Chen(1997) explored various characteristics of Japanese mass me- dia, with particular importance placed on the insularity, homogeneity, and har- mony that characterize