Reporting the 70th Anniversary of the End of World War II A Comparison of News Coverage on Overseas Television

Analyzing Reports in , , the Republic of Korea, the , and the United Kingdom1

June 2016

MATSUMOTO Yumi YAMADA Ken’ichi TANAKA Norihiro SHIBATA Atsushi TANAKA Takanobu

Media Research Division (Overseas Media Studies) NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute

1 This article is based on the authors’ article “Sengo 70-nen hodo, Kaigai no terebi wa do tsutaeta ka: Chugoku, Taiwan, Kankoku, Amerika, Igirisu” [Reporting the 70th Anniversary of the End of World War II: Analyzing Reports in China, Taiwan, the Republic of Korea, the United States, and the ], originally published in the January 2016 issue of Hoso kenkyu to chosa [NHK Monthly Report on Broadcast Research]. Full text in Japanese available at: http://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/research/oversea/pdf/20160101_9.pdf

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The year 2015 marked the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, but tensions over historical perceptions continue to mount, especially between and China and Japan and Korea. The Overseas Media Studies group of the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute collected TV news aired in China, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan (which has undergone a complex history since ), as well as the United States and the United Kingdom—the major powers that fought against Japan—to compare the content and perspectives of news in each country and region. Survey dates were: 15, the most symbolic date of the 70th anniversary, recognized as a memorial day marking the end of war in Japan and as National in Korea; August 14, when Shinzo Abe released his 70th anniversary statement; and 3, the anniversary of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japan, on which a massive was staged in Beijing. In comparison with a similar survey conducted by the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II, the amount of coverage related to the anniversary on August 15th had increased in China. In contrast to the United States, where the amount of World War II-related reports has been markedly decreasing, the news media in China and Korea still give prominent coverage to stories relating to the anniversary, many of them containing views critical of Japan’s perception of history, alongside a number of items focusing on future relations.

I. INTRODUCTION

The year 2015 marked 70 years since the end of World War II. A look at recent media reports shows that tensions over differing perceptions of history remain at least as high as at the time of fiftieth anniversary, if not more so. This is particularly true in regard to Japan’s relations with China and the Republic of Korea (ROK; ). In China, the 70th anniversary was marked by large-scale commemorative events that culminated in a massive military parade on to mark victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan and underline the correctness of its own interpretation of history. For this project, the Overseas Media Studies group of the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute’s Media Research Department, collected data on television news programs from a number of countries deeply involved in the war, including China and South Korea. We compared the content and perspectives of news programming on the symbolic days marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the war.

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In addition to China and South Korea, the other countries and region we chose for the study were Taiwan and Japan’s chief adversaries in the war, the United States and the United Kingdom. Taiwan has experienced a complex modern history: it became a Japanese colony in 1895 and was absorbed into the Republic of China at the end of World War II; later it became the headquarters of the Chinese Republican government after Chiang Kai-shek fled from the mainland following his defeat in China’s civil war. The study looked at the main nightly news programs of the chief broadcasters in each country (and region), focusing on two symbolic dates: , which officially marks the end of the war in Japan and is celebrated in South Korea as National Liberation Day; and September 3, the day on which China held a massive parade to commemorate victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan. The report presents a summary of the news as it was reported in each country, followed by a comparison and analysis by subject. The study focused on the following points: • What content did news programs in each country broadcast on the landmark date of the 70th anniversary of the end of the war? • How did treatment of the news differ according to country? • To what extent did the news broadcasts reflect international relations at the time?

II. SUMMARY

Definitions of the end of World War II differ from country to country, the end of the war in May, August, or September of 1945. For the purposes of this article, we studied television news broadcasts transmitted on three days: Saturday, August 15, officially designated as the end of the war in Japan and celebrated in South Korea as National Liberation Day; Friday August 14, when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made his 70th anniversary statement; and Thursday September 3, on which China held a ceremony to commemorate victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan. Including adjacent days, the study looked at seven days in total: Friday August 14 through Monday August 17, 2015 and Thursday September 3 through Saturday September 5. Researchers covering the countries/region in question were responsible for analyzing the content of broadcasts transmitted in their areas of specialization. The team of analysts was as follows:

China, Taiwan: Ken’ichi Yamada Republic of Korea: Norihiro Tanaka United States: Atsushi Shibata United Kingdom: Takanobu Tanaka

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Yumi Matsumoto was responsible for the figures, observations, and all other parts of the report. Period and theme, news programs studied, and the content of the survey are as follows.

1. Period and Theme of the Study i. Reporting on the anniversary of the end of the war ～August 15 (Sat.), 16 (Sun.), 17 (Mon.)～

Different countries have their own definitions of the end of World War II. Japan defines the war as having ended on August 15, 1945, when announced the news of Japan’s surrender in a public radio broadcast. The same day is recognized in Korea as National Liberation Day. We decided to focus our survey on this symbolic date, and concentrated our research on the three days from August 15 to August 17. ii. Reporting on Prime Minister Abe’s statement ～August 14 (Fri.), 15 (Sat.), 16 (Sun.)～

To mark 70 years since the end of the war, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe read a statement (danwa) from six p.m. Japan time on August 14 at the prime minister’s official residence. The statement had been approved by a cabinet vote. In the lead-up to the announcement, attention focused on how closely the new statement would adhere to previous statements made by former prime ministers, in particular the Murayama Statement that marked the fiftieth anniversary and Koizumi Statement that marked the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the war. In his statement, Prime Minister Abe promised that: “We shall abandon colonial rule forever and respect the right of self-determination of all peoples throughout the world,” and said “Japan has repeatedly expressed the feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war.” His statement therefore used all of the four “keywords” of the Murayama and Koizumi statements: “colonial rule,” “aggression,” “remorse,” and “apology.” Translations of the statement into Chinese and Korean were published on Japanese embassy websites. For this section of the report, we focused on news broadcasts during the three days from August 14 to August 16. A translation of the Abe Statement is provided on pp. 58–59 of this report.

4 iii. Reporting on the Chinese anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan ～September 3 (Thurs.), 4 (Fri.), and 5 (Sat.)～

On September 3, a ceremony to celebrate the 70th anniversary of China’s victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan was held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing. Twenty-three heads of state as well as representatives of international organizations were in attendance. These included Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, President Vladimir Putin of , President Park Geun-hye of the Republic of Korea, former Vice President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Lien Chan, and Choe Ryong-hae, Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (). Japan and the major Western countries generally chose not to send top-level state representatives. This was the fifteenth major military parade since the foundation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Previous parades (including one to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the People’s Republic) had been held on October 1, the landmark date that marks the founding of the republic and is celebrated as National Day. This special commemoration of victory in the war against Japan was the first major parade to be held on a date other than October 1. Concentrating on the main events of September 3, we collected data on media reports for the three-day period to September 5.

2. News Programs Studied

We selected one or more of the main broadcasting stations from each country surveyed, focusing on the main anchored nightly news show in each case (Figure 1). (For some stations that do not broadcast a full anchored news show on Saturdays and Sundays we looked instead at regular news broadcasts during the same timeslot.)

• For China, we looked at CCTV (China Central Television), the only state-level broadcaster. • In Taiwan, we looked at three broadcasters: Public Television Service and two commercial channels: TVBS and . • For Korea, we looked at three channels: public broadcaster KBS and two commercial broadcasters, MSC and SBS. • In the United States, we looked at five channels: the four major commercial networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox) and public broadcaster PBS. • In the United Kingdom, we looked at three channels: public broadcaster BBC, commercial station ITV, and Channel 4, which is run by a non-profit corporation.

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Figure 1 Country/region Channel Program name Time of broadcast China CCTV Xinwen lianbo 19:00 to 19:30 M-F 19:00 to 20:00 Public Television Wanjian xinwen Service Sat.-Sun. 19:00 to 19:30

M-F 22:00 to 23:00 Taiwan TVBS Shidian bu yiyang, etc. Sat.-Sun. 22:00 to 23:00 Formosa M-F 18:30 to 19:55 Wanjian xinwen Television Sat.-Sun. 18:30 to 19:57 M-F 21:00 to 22:00 KBS News 9 Sat.-Sun. 21:00 to 21:40 M-F 19:55 to 20:55 South Korea MBC News Desk Sat.-Sun. 19:55 to 20:45 M-F 20:00 to 20:55 SBS 8 News Sat.-Sun. 20:00 to 20:45 ABC World News Tonight 18:30 to 19:00 CBS Evening News 18:30 to 19:002 NBC Nightly News 18:30 to 19:00 USA Special Report M-F 18:00 to 19:00 Fox Fox Report Weekend Sat.-Sun. 19:00 to 20:00 NewsHour M-F 22:00 to 23:00 PBS NewsHour Weekend Sat.-Sun. 22:00 to 22:30 M-F 22:00 to 22:35 BBC News at Ten Sat. 22:00 to 22:20 Sun. 22:00 to 22:30 M-F 22:00 to 22:40 Sat. 23:10 to 23:253 UK ITV News at Ten Sat. 22:30 to 23:454 Sun. 22:00 to 22:15 M-F 19:00 to 20:00 Channel 4 Channel 4 News Sat. 18:40 to 19:00 Sun. 18:30 to 19:00 Notes: Times listed are local time. Broadcast times are those given on station websites and other sources consulted during research, and in some cases may differ from actual time of broadcast.

2 There was no regular news broadcast on Saturday or Sunday. Instead we looked at This Morning, (7:00 to 7:30) for Saturday, and Sunday Morning (8:00 to 8:30) for Sunday. 3 August 15 (Sat.) 4 September 5 (Sat.)

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3. Content of the Survey

How was the end of the war reported? How was Prime Minister Abe’s statement reported? And how were the Chinese commemorations to mark victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan reported? To answer these questions, we looked at all the news stories covered by the channels under study to see how news relating to the 70th anniversary of the war’s end was reported, focusing on the points below.

• The presence or absence of news related to the anniversary in program headlines • The prominence given to news related to the anniversary among other news stories • Volume of coverage related to the anniversary • Focus of the program and presentation of the news • The characteristics of comments made about Japan, if any

This report presents the findings of the survey in the following order: China, Taiwan, South Korea, United States, United Kingdom. The included tables list all the news stories broadcast on August 15, which we took to be the most significant of the days covered by the study. References to “total broadcast time” do not include headlines, sports, weather, closing credits, or commercials.

III. MEDIA REPORTING BY COUNTRY

1. China

For China, we based our analysis on CCTV’s main nightly news program Xinwen Lianbo (7:00 to 7:30 p.m.). Details are shown in Figure 2. As the state television broadcaster, CCTV is subject to strong control from the Communist Party and is in effect a state-run channel. The content of the Xinwen Lianbo news in particular accords closely with the intentions and mindset of the authorities, and news programming is subject to government approval before broadcast. No other state-level broadcasters exist in China. We also provide a detailed account here of the news that was broadcast for the two days that followed the date (August 15, August 14, and September 3) of our main focus.

7 i. Reporting on the anniversary of the end of the war

CCTV August 15 to 17 There were six headline items on the August 15 edition of Xinwen Lianbo. The first three concerned the explosion in the port at Tianjin (Tientsin). The remaining three headlines dealt with the 70th anniversary of the end of the war. The three war-related headlines were as follows: Item 4, “Commemorative events held around the country to mark 70 years since victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan”; Item 5, “Spokesman from Ministry of Foreign Affairs comments on Abe Statement”; and Item 6, “Events held in South, North Korea to mark 70 years since liberation from colonial rule.” In the main part of the program, the explosion in Tianjin port was the top news story, and reports including one on “President Xi Jinping issues important instructions on prevention of major accidents” lasted until 11′23″ into the program. These reports were followed by news on celebrations to mark the anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan. There were reports on ceremonies in Liaoning, Jilin, and Jiangsu Provinces and other places around the country. After these, the program returned to the studio, where the newsreader read a statement by a spokesman from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacting to Prime Minister Abe’s statement. This lasted for 1 minute 32 seconds and was followed by an item under the heading “Qiushi magazine to publish review to mark the 70th anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan.” Neither of these studio reports was accompanied by video footage. Next came four items of unrelated news, followed by two short items on “The who became sex slaves of the Japanese army” and “Music concert to mark 70 years since victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan.” In the international news that followed, the top news was an item on “Events held in South and North Korea to mark 70 years since liberation.” This lasted 1 minute 42 seconds. This was followed by a sequence of three items: “China criticizes visit to by a number of Japanese cabinet and Diet members,” “Japanese member of the Eighth Route Army looks back on the war,” and “Photo exhibition: The truth about the brutality of the Japanese Army (Tokyo).” In total, items related to the anniversary took up 10 minutes 40 seconds of a total broadcast time of 30 minutes (not including headlines). The next day, August 16, only one of the seven headline stories had any connection with the end of the war. This was the final item, “Events to mark August 15 held in many countries,” which was the top item in the international news section. It started 23 minutes 27 seconds into the program and lasted for 2 minutes 2 seconds. The report covered three pieces of news: “ documentary focuses on Japanese military occupation,” “Commemoration events held in cities around ,” and “Memorials held in Britain for those who died in the Far Eastern theater.” There was also a short 17-second item in the

8 domestic news digest about plans for an animated film about the War of Resistance Against Japan. There was no news relating to the anniversary on the 17th.

Figure 2. CCTV Xinwen Lianbo, August 15 (7:00 to 7:30 p.m.) No. News item Start time Headlines

① Xi Jinping issues important instructions on prevention of major accidents Li Keqiang issues instructions on handling of dangerous chemical ② substances, teleconference of State Council ③ Running reports on explosion in Tianjin Commemorative events held around the country to mark 70 years since 1′10″ ④ victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan (7 secs.) 1′17″ ⑤ Spokesman from Ministry of Foreign Affairs comments on Abe Statement (9 secs.) Events held in South, North Korea to mark 70 years since liberation from 1′26″ ⑥ colonial rule (9 secs.) Domestic news President Xi Jinping issues important instructions on prevention of major ① accidents Li Keqiang issues instructions on handling of dangerous chemical ② substances, teleconference of State Council ③ Overview of the situation following explosion in Tianjin Events to mark 70 years since victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan • Commemorative events in Liaoning, Jilin Provinces 11′23″ ④ • “Judgment of Justice” exhibition in Northeast (1 min. 50 secs.) • “The Crime of [Japanese] Unit 731” Museum opens in • Events in Hebei, Sichuan, Jiangsu, , and Henan Provinces 13′13″ ⑤ Spokesman from Ministry of Foreign Affairs comments on Abe Statement (1 min. 32 secs.) Qiushi magazine to publish review to mark 70th anniversary of victory in 14′45″ ⑥ the War of Resistance Against Japan (1 min. 2 secs.) ⑦ State Council sets rules for bidding process for public works projects ⑧ Explanation of CCP patrol work regulations ⑨ In the Vanguard of the Times: Missile brigade in Jinan Military Region Brief news ⑩ Rescue operations continue after landslides in Shaanxi Province 22 ′ 39 ″ ⑪ The comfort women who became sex slaves of the Japanese Army (23 secs.) ⑫ Air Force fighters in practice drills ⑬ Ethnic minority children enjoy summer school activities

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Music concert to mark 70 years since victory in the War of Resistance 23 ′ 35 ″ ⑭ Against Japan (15 secs.) International News • Events held in South and North Korea to mark 70 years since liberation 23′55″ ⑮ • President Park of South Korea joins commemorative event (1 min. 42 secs.) • Commemorative events in North Korea • North Korea starts use of Pyongyang time China criticizes visit to Yasukunai Shrine by a number of Japanese cabinet 25′37″ ⑯ and Diet members (33 secs.) 26′10″ ⑰ Japanese member of the Eighth Route Army looks back on the war (2 mins. 44 secs.) Photo exhibition: The truth about the brutality of the Japanese Army 28′54″ ⑱ (Tokyo). (39 secs.) Notes: Items relating to the end of the war are shaded and the length of broadcast time shown. Headings in the “News story” column are translated from the Chinese titles. For stories broadcast without a title, a brief summary has been provided. “Start time” indicates the time elapsed since the start of the broadcast. Times in parentheses show the length of each item. The same format is followed for all other broadcasters covered below. ii. Reporting on Prime Minister Abe’s statement

CCTV August 14 and 15 On August 14 itself, none of the six headlines on Xinwen Lianbo concerned the Abe Statement. In the main section of the program, there was a news item reporting that “Abe’s statement avoids direct apology.” This started at the 24′15″ mark and lasted 1 minute 32 seconds. The report did not include excerpts from the statement in the prime minister’s own voice, and there was no analysis of the statement or vox populi interviews with the public. Another item related to the war was titled “Chinese and foreign journalists carry out interviews in Yunnan Province on the War of Resistance Against Japan,” which ran for 47 seconds from the 22′40″ mark. News relating to the Abe Statement therefore made up 1 minute 32 seconds of the total 30 minutes of broadcast time. In total, items relating to the anniversary took up a total of 2 minutes 19 seconds. As already noted, the Abe Statement was also mentioned in both the headline section and the main body of the program on August 15. Overall, there was relatively little treatment of Abe’s statement. This was probably because, although the statement took China and other countries into account by using key terms like “aggression” and “apology,” many parts of the statement failed to please the Chinese government. The “apology,” for example, was not presented as the prime minister’s own words, and when he spoke of the Asian countries that had suffered in the past, the order in which he listed them (, , Taiwan, Korea, and China) not only treated Taiwan as a separate entity but seemed to give it precedence over China.

10 iii. Reporting on Chinese anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan

CCTV September 3 to 5 On September 3, Xinwen Lianbo was extended by nearly 20 minutes and went on until 19:49:50. The reason for the special running time was the ceremony to commemorate the 70th anniversary of China’s victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan and the World Anti-Fascist War. All the news stories covered in this special edition were related to the anniversary of the war’s end. There were five headlines: “70th Anniversary Celebrations; President Xi Jinping gives major speech,” “Celebratory State Dinner and Speech by President Xi Jinping“, “Chairman of the Central Military Commission Xi Jinping instructs that awards be given to military parade commanders,” “President Xi holds meetings with foreign dignitaries,” and “Prime Minister Li meets Russian President Vladimir Putin.” The main section of the program began with a broadcast showing the commemoration ceremony, with Xi Jinping’s speech covered from the 6 minute 12 seconds to 12′ 06″ mark. This was followed by footage of Xi inspecting the troops until the 16′ 45″ mark, and then the military march-past the weapons parade and the ceremonial releasing of doves until 28′46″. After this, a report about the state banquet continued till 34′42″. From 35′56″, there was an item showing Xi Jinping meeting dignitaries from various countries, in the following order: the secretary general of the UN, the president of Vietnam, the president of , the . Following the item about Prime Minister Li’s meeting with the Russian president, there was 2 minutes 38 seconds of interviews showing the “reactions of participants in the ceremonies and people watching live broadcasts around the country.” (All the people interviewed expressed positive opinions.) This was followed by a concluding section of further news connected with the end of the war: “An introduction to the Xinhua Agency’s editorial ‘The Victory Trumpet,’” “An explanation by the Chinese Defense Ministry of its plans to cut its troops by 300,000,” “Victory and Peace nighttime arts festival to be broadcast live.” We treated Xi’s meetings with foreign dignitaries as related to the 70th anniversary on the grounds that the dignitaries in question were in China to take part in the victory commemorations and the fact that the news reports referred to the anti-Japanese struggle. The time of broadcast was changed again the following day, and the September 4 edition was extended by 13 minutes until 7:43 p.m. There were six headlines—all related to the 70th anniversary—led by an item on “Arts festival held in Beijing to celebrate 70th anniversary of victory.” All but three of the items covered in the main body of the show also related to the anniversary. They took up a combined broadcast time of 40 minutes 51 seconds, or more than 90 percent of the total. On September 5, the top news story was an item on “High praise from foreign leaders and citizens around the country for celebrations to commemorate the 70th anniversary of

11 victory in the war.” Three of the five headlines related to the anniversary, and war-related stories took up 21 minutes 43 seconds of the 30 minutes broadcast time in total, or more than 70 percent. As we have seen, CCTV devoted a large share of its broadcast time to reports related to the anniversary during the three-day period starting September 3 on which the military parade and other commemorative events took place. The special nature of the military parade made clear that the Chinese government regarded the date of September 3 as particularly important within the 70th anniversary of the end of the war context. In contrast to the keen interest shown in the past war, the de facto state broadcaster CCTV offered only very limited reporting on Prime Minister Abe’s statement. As mentioned, one major reason for this was the statement’s complex mixture of parts that China could welcome and parts that it could not. The decision not to report the details of the statement or feature interviews with ordinary citizens suggests caution on the part of the Chinese authorities. In addition to consideration for its relationship with Japan today, the government was perhaps concerned that widespread dissatisfaction at the statement in China might be directed at the Chinese government.

2. Taiwan

For Taiwanese news, the survey looked at three channels: the public broadcaster Public Television Service and two commercial channels, TVBS and Formosa Television. Unlike in China, the media in Taiwan is essentially free and the government does not exert obvious pressure or intervene in programming. Public Television takes an essentially neutral line politically. Of the two commercial channels, TVBS is generally regarded as being close to the ruling KMT and felt to be strongly pro-China. Formosa Television is generally seen as being closer to the opposition Democratic Progressive Party and less likely to support a pro- China line. For the survey, the programs we analyzed were as follows: Wanjian Xinwen (Figure 3) on Public Television, 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. (7:00 to 7:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays); Shidian Bu Yiyang on the TVBS news channel from 10:00 to 11:00 p.m. on weeknights (on weekends, we looked at a different news show broadcast on the same channel at the same time); and Wanjian Xinwen (Figure 4), broadcast by Formosa Television on its news channel from 6:30 to 7:55 p.m. (to 7:57 p.m. on weekends).

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Figure 3. Taiwan Public Television Wanjian Xinwen, August 15 (7:00 to 7:30 p.m.) No. News item Start time Headlines ① Next typhoon heading for Taiwan next week Waterworks repairs in Wulai, New , expected to take one more ② week ③ Taiwan Railways drivers strike against “excessive workloads” Japanese emperor expresses “deep remorse,” South Korea calls for 0′23″ ④ resolution to comfort women issue (7 seconds) News ① Next typhoon heading for Taiwan next week Waterworks repairs in Wulai, New Taipei, expected to take one more week • Volunteers help with cleanup ② • Repairs to water supply expected to take another week after road severance in Fushan, Wulai • Fish farm wiped out ③ Killer whales sighted off east coast of Taiwan ④ Taiwan Railways drivers strike against “excessive workload” ⑤ Latest news from three presidential candidates Japanese prime minister reiterates apology, emperor expresses remorse. Pres. Ma Ying-jeou calls for stronger action on comfort women issue 10′53″ • Chengchi University academic comments on Abe statement: ⑥ “Doesn’t mention core issues” and is a “product of (1 minute 53 seconds) compromise” • Democratic Progressive Party welcomes the statement International News 12′54″ ⑦ Emperor expresses “deep remorse” (11 seconds) 13′05″ ⑧ 70th anniversary events in South Korea (21 seconds) 13′26″ ⑨ Protests in South Korea against Abe Statement (10 seconds) South Korean President Park calls for resolution of comfort women 13′36″ ⑩ issue (18 seconds) 13′54″ ⑪ Emperor’s apology “more profound” than Abe’s statement (17 seconds) 14′11″ ⑫ Japanese militarists hold rally at Yasukuni Shrine (10 seconds) 14′21″ ⑬ Two Japanese cabinet ministers visit Yasukuni Shrine (24 seconds) ⑭ Further explosions in Tianjin ⑮ US Secretary of State John Kerry visits Cuba

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Domestic news Bag of ash containing heavy metals ruptures in Taichung, fears of ⑯ contamination Villagers oppose proposed merger of newly opened elementary school ⑰ in Miaoli Teachers’ union hits back at draft curriculum proposals put forward by ⑱ National Academy for Educational Research Are public transport companies doing enough for passengers with baby ⑲ carriages? Weather forecast i. Reporting on the anniversary of the end of the war

Taiwan Public Television August 15 Of the four headline items on Wanjian Xinwen, the first two related to an approaching typhoon and related damage. The third item concerned a railway strike. The fourth headline was “Japanese emperor expresses ‘deep remorse,’ South Korea calls for solution to comfort women issue.” This item began at 19:10:53, starting with remarks made by the emperor at the official ceremony to commemorate the war dead, and noted that President Ma Ying-jeou had called on Japan to bolster its response on the comfort women issue. Following this, a professor from the National Chengchi University was interviewed about the statement made by Prime Minister Abe the previous day, commenting that it “does not touch on the core issues,” and describing it as “the result of compromise.” The report also noted that the opposition Democratic Progressive Party had welcomed the statement. In the international news section, there were items headed “Emperor expresses ‘deep remorse,’” “70th anniversary events in South Korea,” “Protests in South Korea against Abe Statement,” “South Korean President Park calls for resolution of comfort women issue,” “Emperor’s apology ‘more profound’ than Abe’s statement,” “Japanese militarists hold rally at Yasukuni Shrine,” and “Two Japanese cabinet ministers visit Yasukuni Shrine.” These were followed by news about the explosion in Tianjin. It was noticeable that none of the reports made reference to how the anniversary was being marked in China. News related to the anniversary lasted for a total of 3 minutes 44 seconds, from 19:10:53 to 19:14:45 (excluding opening music).

TVBS August 15 On Saturday evening there was a special program devoted to news related to the forthcoming Taiwanese presidential election; this replaced the usual daily news programing.

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Formosa Television August 15 The Wanjian Xinwen program does not use headlines. The top story was an item on “Risk of eruption on Sakurajima, warning increased to Level 4,” followed by a second item on “Two typhoons approaching Taiwan.” There was not much news about the anniversary, apart from one item lasting 2 minutes 41 seconds on “Abe’s statement to mark 70 years since end of war sparks criticism.” This was the twenty-fifth item of news to be broadcast, from 19:20:49, more than 50 minutes into the show. Immediately after this was an item on “Japanese born in Taiwan, 70 years of hardship after leaving Taiwan,” tracing the life stories of a number of people born in Taiwan during Japanese rule who returned to Japan after the war. This ran for 1 minute 45 seconds, which served as a preview for a program scheduled to go out later the same day. Together, items 25 and 26 ran for a combined total of 4 minutes 26 seconds, out of a total program length of 85 minutes.

Figure 4. Formosa Television Wanjian Xinwen, August 15 (6:30 to 7:55 p.m.) No. News items Start time ① Risk of eruption on Sakurajima, warning increased to Level 4 ② Two typhoons approaching Taiwan Mayor of Taipei suggests using second reserve fund to cover overtime ③ in event of natural disaster Miaoli County to increase exports of grapes and pears to to ④ ease fiscal crisis ⑤ Motorbike falls 18 meters near tunnel in Nantou county ⑥ Arrest for theft of bag from drunk person asleep on street ⑦ Member of gang in Hualien county shoots gang boss dead In Taichung, passports lost during group health check of foreign ⑧ workers, later found ⑨ Net user apologizes for spreading false rumors online ⑩ Single-car accident caused by overwork? ⑪ In Chiayi, middle-school girl saves mother after collapse ⑫ In Kaohsiung, man abducted makes his escape; attacker arrested ⑬ Fires rage again after explosions in Tianjin port Families of victims killed in Tianjin explosion storm press conference ⑭ in protest Presidential Election: Hung Hsiu-chu and James Soong Chu-yu ⑮ scramble for KMT-led Pan-Blue Coalition votes ⑯ Tsai Ing-wen criticizes squabbles within Pan-Blue Coalition ⑰ Magistrate of Hualien county refuses to endorse any candidate People First Party group formed to support Soong in Tainan City ⑱ Council Hung Hsiu-chu takes legal action against commentator who claimed she ⑲ was ready to “withdraw from election in return for conditions”

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⑳ Plagiarism concerns over Hung Hsiu-chu’s campaign ads “Piggy banks” proving popular for small donations to presidential ㉑ election funds Members of Taipei City Council call for mayor’s removal over dirty ㉒ water ㉓ GDP growth rate drops below 2 percent ㉔ Restaurant introduces iPad ordering system Abe’s statement to mark 70 years since end of war sparks criticism 20′49″ ㉕ (2 minutes 41 seconds) Japanese born in Taiwan, 70 years of hardship after leaving Taiwan 23′30″ ㉖ (1 minute 45 seconds) Notice of upcoming programs Commercials Mausoleum in Chiayi County popular for medical prescriptions by ㉗ drawing lots ㉘ Natural gas flame becomes new tourist destination in Kaohsiung ㉙ U.S. major league baseball: Yankees come from behind to win Notice of upcoming programs Commercials ㉚ Cooking with pomelos fallen from trees ㉛ Crossing of honeybees from Italy and Taiwan produces improved strain Weather forecast Notice of upcoming programming: For Japanese born in Taiwan, 70 bitter 48′38″ years after leaving Taiwan (49 seconds)

ii. Reporting on Prime Minister Abe’s statement

Taiwan Public Television August 14 There were four headlines on the Wanjian Xinwen news program on August 14. The fourth was a report informing viewers that “Prime Minister apologizes for the first time in statement to mark 70 years since the end of the war.” This ran for a total of 2 minutes 33 seconds from 19:25:39 and was the lead story in international news, explaining that Abe had used the word “apology” (daoqian) for the first time. The report used three subtitled clips of the prime minister’s statement. The first excerpt was the part mentioning Japan’s “feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology.” This was followed by comments in which the newsreader explained that Abe was expressing remorse for the comfort women issue and the aggression of the past. Next came Abe’s insistence that “We must not let our children . . . be predestined to apologize,” followed by a third extract in which he said “incident, aggression, war—no use of threat or force should be permitted as a means of settling

16 international disputes. Colonial rule should be abandoned forever.” These clips were followed by comments from the newscaster, who explained that although Abe had said in 2006 during his first term in office that he would continue to abide by the Murayama Statement, during his second period in office starting 2012 he had been criticized for doubting whether coercion had been involved in recruiting the comfort women and querying the definition of the word “aggression/invasion.” The commentator said that domestic pressure had forced the prime minister to change direction, and suggested that he was looking to create a suitable context for his plan to visit China in September. However, there was a serious mistranslation in one part of the reporting. In the second excerpt from Abe’s speech, the passage reading “We must not let our children, grandchildren, and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize,” the subtitles expressed precisely the opposite meaning, suggesting that the prime minister had said “we must continue to ensure that [they] are predestined to apologize.” Following the report about Abe’s statement, the next item in the international news section concerned former comfort women in the Philippines calling on Japan to acknowledge the facts and demands from people in Hong Kong that the Japanese government compensate them for currency issued by the wartime military government. The total running time of the three items was 4 minutes 38 seconds.

TVBS August 14 On Shidian Bu Yiyang, the Abe Statement was given top billing as the lead news item. A report that lasted more than four minutes until 10:04:04 highlighted the statement’s expression of remorse, apology, and condolences, as well as the fact that the statement explicitly mentioned Taiwan. There was no other related news after this report. Most of the images relating to Japan shown during this report were taken from YouTube, according to a message displayed onscreen. Three parts of Abe’s statement were used, with subtitles. First was the part referring to “deep remorse and heartfelt apology.” This was followed by a video clip from Prime Minister ’s statement in 1995, in which he said that “through its colonial rule and aggression, [Japan] caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations . . . [I] express here once again my feelings of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology.” Following this, the newscaster explained that there had been several months of debate on the question of whether an apology should be included in the Abe Statement, and said Abe had decided to express an apology. After this, the report introduced a news broadcast shown on TV Asahi in Japan, in which news analyst Akira Ikegami was heard to say (with subtitles): “Remorse is something directed at the self: remorse is the feeling “I did something wrong.” Apology is an expression of that regret and remorse directed to other people.” The Taiwanese newscaster suggested that

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Abe’s speech had used the word “aggression” (shinryaku) in an indirect way, and used the following extract from the statement, with subtitles. “The devastation of war must never be repeated again. Incident, aggression, war—no use of threat or force should be permitted as a means of settling international disputes.” The newsreader noted that “unusually, the statement explicitly mentioned Taiwan,” and included a video clip of the following section of Abe’s delivery: “We have engraved in our hearts the histories of suffering of the people in Asia as our neighbors: those in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, and Taiwan, the Republic of Korea and China,” and “This position, articulated by the previous cabinets, will remain unshakable into the future.” This was followed by analysis suggesting that Abe had decided to revise his previous hardline stance on an apology because his views had made him enemies overseas and at home his approval ratings had fallen as a result of his government’s security legislation and decision to restart the nuclear reactors at the country’s nuclear power plants. The newsreader mentioned an NHK opinion poll that showed more people critical of the government’s performance than supportive of it.

Formosa Television August 14 Wanjian Xinwen did not cover the Japanese prime minister’s statement prominently. The twenty-sixth item of news was a report lasting 1 minute 24 seconds from 19:25:14 telling viewers that “Prime Minister Abe apologizes, acknowledges aggression.” The report used two subtitled clips from Abe’s speech. The first was the part in which Abe said “Colonial rule will be abandoned forever and the right of self-determination of all peoples throughout the world should be respected.” This was followed by the mention of “feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology.” In comments that followed these clips, the newscaster said that Japan had expressed an apology to the countries it had invaded in the past. The report was accompanied by onscreen titles reading “Breaking News.” The appearance of this report so late in the running order was probably due to the short time between the broadcast of the Abe Statement in Japan (five p.m. Taiwan time) and the start of the television news. iii. Reporting on the Chinese anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan

All three Taiwanese channels gave relatively prominent coverage to the Chinese anniversary commemoration.

Public Television September 3 There were four items of headline news on Wanjian Xinwen. The second of these reported

18 that former Vice President Lien Chan of Taiwan had attended the ceremonies in Beijing. In the main body of the program, the news was covered as the final part of the lead story about the Taiwanese presidential elections. The relevant report ran for 33 seconds from 19:04:27, remarking that Democratic Progressive Party candidate Tsai Ing-wen had criticized Lien Chan for his attendance, saying that it was likely to offend veterans. Following this, news about the commemoration ceremonies in China ran for a total of 6 minutes 23 seconds until 19:11:23, with a sequence of items on “Xi Jinping announces cut of 300,000 troops,” “Exhibition of weapons,” “State leaders from South Korea and Russia attend, but Western countries show cool response,” “Former Vice President Lien in front row,” “Could Lien’s attendance influence KMT’s election?” “Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin both attend,” and “President Ma Ying-jeou criticizes Lien, says the struggle against Japan was fought by the Nationalist government.” From 19:22:14, another piece at the top of the international news segment describing the Dongfeng 15 missiles and other weaponry on display at military parade. This lasted 2 minutes 46 seconds.

TVBS September 3 The Chinese military parade dominated the news coverage on Shidian Bu Yiyang from its ten p.m. opening to the conclusion of the program. Images of the parade were played with comments and reports headed “Eighty-four percent of the weaponry on display for the first time,” “levels of representation of various countries,” “300,000 troops to be cut,” and “the history of Chinese military parades.” This was followed by comment and explanation by military experts in the studio. These explanations were quite detailed. The analysts explained that Taiwan was within the range of the Dongfeng 15B and 16 missiles, that 1,500 Chinese missiles were directed at Taiwan, and that two thirds of Chinese missiles were medium- to long-range missiles capable of reaching the United States and Japan. In light of this, the panel said, it was important for Taiwan to cooperate with the United States and Japan to oppose China. The proposed military cuts were about modernizing China’s forces rather than reducing its strength. This alone took the program up to 22:39:41. This was followed by more coverage of the military parade, noting that numerous businesses had been ordered to stop work in order to ensure blue skies for the inspection of troops, and reporting on live ammunition exercises carried out by Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force. After a commercial break there was criticism of former Vice President Lien for his attendance at the parade. After more commercials and a preview of upcoming programming came an item on medical units that took part in the military parade. After more commercials and previews, the closing credits were screened over images of the military parade.

Formosa Television September 3 The first fourteen items on Wanjian Xinwen, starting from 6:30 p.m., concerned news stories

19 unrelated to the 70th anniversary of the end of the war. Starting from 18:57:11, there was a special feature on the Chinese military parade that lasted 11 minutes 31 seconds. This started with clips of China’s leader flanked by the Russian and South Korean presidents, and several news stories on China’s military strength, before moving onto items about criticisms being directed at the KMT’s Lien and Chin Chingsheng, Secretary General of the People First Party, for their attendance.

In summary, it is fair to say that in general the three Taiwanese stations studied did not give prominent attention to the anniversary of end of the war itself. On August 15, there was no news program in the relevant timeslot on TVBS; neither Public Television nor Formosa TV gave the anniversary prominent attention. All three stations covered Abe’s statement in some detail, all referring to the prime minister’s subtitled allusion to “feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology,” but the reporting on August 14 did not include comments from experts or interviews with ordinary people on the street or reports on reactions in other countries. Public Television did feature expert interviews on the following day (August 15), while both Public Television and Formosa TV reported that President Ma Ying-jeou had demanded a greater response from the Japanese government on the comfort women issue. Formosa TV covered criticisms of the Abe Statement made by CCTV news and through interviews with citizens in South Korea, and featured subtitled comments by former Japanese Prime Minister Murayama describing the statement as “so lacking in focus that I couldn’t understand what he was trying to say.” It seems likely that the main reason for the relatively sparse coverage on August 14 was the short space of time between Abe’s statement in the early evening and the start of the news. On September 3, the emphasis of the coverage was on analysis of China’s display of its military might; little attention was paid to looking back on history. This reflects the reality that China has not renounced the possibility of using force to unite Taiwan with the mainland. As China continues to build its military strength, it is fair to say that the reporting on all three channels reflected the mainstream view in Taiwan that regards current problems as more important than the past. All three channels reported that former Vice President Lien had been criticized not only by the opposition but also from within the KMT for attending the parade. This suggests a widespread feeling of disappointment in both government and opposition circles in Taiwan at attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to distort the historical facts regarding the leading role played in the war against Japan by the KMT. (by Ken’ichi Yamada)

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3. Republic of Korea

For South Korea, we looked at the following programs: News 9 (KBS) (Figure 5), News Desk (MBC) (Figure 6), and 8 News (SBS) (Figure 7). In South Korea, KBS and MBC are both commonly referred to as “public television.” But for the purposes of this survey we categorized KBS, which derives the bulk of its income from a license fee, as public television, and MBC, which derives most of its income from advertising, as a commercial station. i. Reporting on the anniversary of the end of World War II

On August 15, President Park Gyun-hye gave a speech to mark the 70th anniversary of National Liberation Day (Gwangbokjeol), the national holiday that marks the end of Japanese colonial rule over the Korean peninsula. The speech began by criticizing North Korea for an incident that took place on August 4, in which mines presumably planted by the North exploded in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, seriously wounding two South Korean soldiers. But she also spoke of the need to ease military tensions and build trust between the two sides. Turning to Prime Minister Abe’s statement, she said that it “left much to be desired,” but specifically “took note” of the fact that the statement promised to uphold the apologies and expressions of remorse of previous Cabinet statements on the comfort women and other subjects. All the news channels treated the president’s speech as the main news of the day. A summary follows of the various ways in which the news programs reported the end of the war in 1945 (Liberation Day in Korea), with reference to the running order given in Figures 5, 6, and 7.

KBS August 15 News 9 put together a special edition to mark “70 Years Since National Liberation Day.” There were five headline items. The first was a report on President Park’s speech, which noted that despite regarding Abe’s statement as regrettable in some respects, the president had reiterated her willingness to look toward the future in developing better relations with Japan. The second item reported the visit to Yasukuni Shrine by a group of Japanese politicians. The fifth item reported new evidence suggesting that six known to have been killed in medical experiments carried out on living subjects in Manchuria by Unit 731 had been anti-Japanese activists. There were 26 stories in total. Of these, items relating to the end of the war filled 29 minutes 59 seconds of broadcast time, or around 56 percent of the total time. Items 1 through 5 dealt with the president’s speech and related items; items 8 through 13 concerned peaceful

21 coexistence between Korea and Japan. Finally, items 21 through 25 concerned events held to commemorate National Liberation Day and other related news.

Items 1 through 5 Abe’s statement was the second subject in the president’s speech, after North Korea. The news featured video clips from the speech in which the president said that “History cannot be hidden, but rather lives on through the testimony of surviving witnesses . . . We look to the Japanese government to match with consistent and sincere actions its declaration that the view of history articulated by its previous cabinets will be upheld, and thereby win the trust of its neighbors and the international community.”

Items 8 through 13 Reports looked back on conditions in Korea during the Japanese colonial period, based on statements and photographs provided by eye witnesses now in their eighties and nineties (Item 8). The next item reported that documents belonging to the Japanese Kempeitai (military police) had confirmed for the first time that all six of the Koreans known to have perished in experiments carried out by Japanese Unit 731 in Manchuria had been members of the anti-Japanese resistance (Item 9). Other items looked toward the future. One report was a live linkup between Myondon in Seoul and Shibuya in Tokyo, in which young people in popular shopping areas in Korea and Japan spoke about how they viewed each other (Item 12). Another report looked at the reconciliation process between Germany and Poland, showing how relations between a former aggressor and its victims had improved to the extent that 75 percent of people in Poland have a positive view opinion of Germany today (Item 13).

Items 21 through 25 In addition to reports on various celebrations held around the country, there was an item in the sports section looking back on famous matches between Korea and Japan in soccer and baseball, and a piece describing the special joy of beating Japan in sports (Item 25).

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Figure 5. KBS News 9 August 15, Special Edition (9:00 to 10:00 p.m.) No. News item Start time Headlines “True liberation will only come when we become a reunited people . . .” 0′00 ① statement “does not come up to expectations” (17 seconds) 0′17 ② Japan: Yasukuni visit, emperor expresses “deep remorse” (14 seconds) ③ North starts “Pyongyang time” “Indiscriminate strikes” vs. “retribution” ④ Emergency evacuation in explosion zone, casualties mount 0′58 ⑤ Six victims of “live experiments” were members of resistance (14 seconds) News (Introductory remarks from studio commentator) 70 Years Since 1′12″ Liberation, New Challenges (1 minute 25 seconds) True liberation means reunification. North must work to build 2′ 37″ ① relationship of trust (1 minute 49 seconds) Disappointment at Abe statement. Japan must back up its words with 4′ 26″ ② action. (1 minute 34 seconds) 6′00″ ③ Group visit to Yasukuni. Emperor expresses “deep remorse.” (1 minute 38 seconds) Japanese government shows perception of history. Need to keep watch 7′38″ ④ on behavior. (1 minute 43 seconds) Foreign leaders offer congratulations, “respect for Korea’s 9′21″ ⑤ development.” (1 minute 23 seconds) ⑥ North starts “Pyeongyang time,” threatens “indiscriminate strikes.” Order for emergency evacuation within 3km radius . . . toxic substances ⑦ discovered (Titles) South Korea and Japan: What are the conditions for 14′07″

coexistence? (10 seconds) 14′17″ ⑧ The national spirit that allowed Korea to endure the colonial period (2 minutes 6 seconds) Six victims of live experiments were members of anti-Japanese 16′23′ ⑨ resistance (2 minutes 1 second) 18′24″ ⑩ Dokdo is Korean territory. “We will defend it.” (1 minute 33 seconds) 19′ 57″ ⑪ “Abducted in the bloom of our lives.” “I cannot die without an apology.” (2 minutes 27 seconds) 22′24″ ⑫ How young people in both countries see Korea-Japan relationship (3 minutes 46 seconds) 26′10″ ⑬ True apology and engagement . . . beyond reconciliation to harmony (1 minute 58 seconds) (Lead, newsreader) Newsreader’s comments: Overcoming division and

moving toward unification ⑭ Youth peace trip: “We felt unity in our hearts.”

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⑮ A unified Korea, as seen from Berlin, Dandong, UN ⑯ A concert for hope and peace: “I am Korea.” (Titles) Miracle on the Han River: Dreaming of a New Leap Forward Major changes in land and infrastructure: Highways, airports, industrial ⑰ parks ⑱ “Let’s live a good life . . .” The power of ambition. ⑲ The next economic leap forward: Issues to be addressed ⑳ Riding the “Korean wave” to become a cultural superpower The joy of liberation: Taegkgi (national flag)-waving crowds around the 48′25″ ㉑ country (2 minutes 1 second) Looking back on the meaning of National Liberation: Toasts and 50′26″ ㉒ celebrations nationwide (1 minute 35 seconds) Fireworks celebrations light the night skies to mark 70 years since 52′01″ ㉓ liberation (1 minute 14 seconds) Anti-Japanese resistance movie “Assassination” tops 10 million for 53′ 15″ ㉔ Liberation Day (1 minute 36 seconds) ㉕ Great Korea-Japan sporting contests: The joy of victory Sellouts at three baseball stadiums. Park Byung-ho hits 42nd home run Weather Closing credits

MBC August 15 Like KBS, News Desk also ran a special edition marking 70 years since National Liberation Day. There were eight headlines. The first concerned the president’s speech, highlighting her comments that true national liberation would only be brought about by national unification and her demands that Japan demonstrate its understanding of historical issues by its conduct. The second item was the Abe Statement and the visit of a group of politicians to Yasukuni Shrine. The report highlighted former Prime Minister Murayama’s critical remarks on the statement to the effect that “it was not clear what he was apologizing for.” The third item reported that South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was pressing the Japanese government to get directly involved in resolving the comfort women issue, and quoted a Korean civic group who had dismissed the Abe Statement as an apology that ducked responsibility. The seventh reported that in Gunma prefecture orders had been given by the local government to remove a monument erected more than twenty years ago by a group of Japanese citizens to remember Korean people pressed to work as forced labor during the war. News related to the end of the war took up a total of 21 minutes 11 seconds, around 51 percent of the total news time. A total of 25 items was broadcast. Items 1 through 5 concerned the president’s speech and related matters; items 10 through 13 were a live

24 broadcast from the disputed island of Dokdo (Japanese name: Takeshima), and a report on developments connected with the Dokdo issue; and items 17 through 19 were reports on the Japanese colonial period.

Items 1 through 5 The coverage of the president’s speech first addressed the provocation of North Korean mines in the DMZ, and then moved onto Abe’s statement. This was the same order followed by KBS. In the part touching on Abe’s statement, the program showed clips with sound of President Park saying that “it is hard to deny that [the Abe Statement] did not quite live up to our expectations. History cannot be hidden, but rather lives on through the testimony of surviving witnesses” and that “We look to the Japanese government to match with consistent and sincere actions its declaration that the view of history articulated by its previous cabinets will be upheld, and thereby win the trust of its neighbors and the international community.” This was also very close to the reporting on KBS. The fifth item dealt with Abe’s statement again, reporting that a press officer from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had said on the day after the statement that Korea’s position was to “encourage them to work proactively to achieve a speedy resolution on the comfort women and other unresolved issues in the relationship between Korea and Japan.” It reported that, while basically critical of the statement, the ministry was being careful to take a patient and prudent tone.

Items 10 through 13 These items dealt with the work of the Dokdo Coastguard, and included a report with the comment “70 years after National Liberation, the work continues to defend resolutely the easternmost extremity of our national territory against the provocations of Japan, which is beginning to show its ambitions again.” (Item 11)

Items 17 to 19 These items included a report (item 19) claiming that 67,000 Korean cultural treasures looted by Japan had still not been returned.

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Figure 6. MBC News Desk August 15, Special Edition (7:55 to 8:45 p.m.) No. News Item Start time Headlines 0′00″ ① Addressing the tragedy of separated families (16 seconds) 0′16″ ② Statement without apology. His thinking remained the same. (12 seconds) 0′28″ ③ Japan must work to resolve comfort women issue (12 seconds) 0′40″ ④ 70th Anniversary of National Liberation on the frontlines: Dokdo (15 seconds) ⑤ Even on Liberation Day: North threatens “indiscriminate strikes.” 1′04″ ⑥ Wave of Taegukgi flags sweeps the nation (14 seconds) 1 ′ 18 ″ (13 ⑦ The erasure of history: Attempt to remove monument to forced laborers seconds) ⑧ Massive explosions continue. Toxic emissions detected. News 1′50″ ① Mine-planting provocation tramples on the wishes of the people (2 minutes 1 second) 3′51″ ② Abe’s statement: leaves much to be desired (1 minute 27 seconds) 5′18″ ③ Celebrations nationwide . . . waves of national flags (1 minutes 39 seconds) 6′57″ ④ Abe unrepentant, makes offering to Yasukuni (1 minutes 39 seconds) 8′36″ ⑤ Critical reaction to statement; government reacts with prudence (1 minute 34 seconds) (Titles) 70 Years of Division. When will reunification come? ⑥ Threat of “indiscriminate strikes” increases tension ⑦ Politics of fear as North refuses dialogue ⑧ Economic cooperation efforts frozen. Any chance of a breakthrough? ⑨ “If I could only see their faces again before I die.” Live link to event space in Gwanghuamen 17′20″ ⑩ Military exercises in sea by Dokdo (2 minutes 10 seconds) Live again from Gwanghuamen 19′30″ ⑪ Dokdo: Wholly our territory (1 minute 43 seconds) 21′13″ ⑫ “No compensation; not even an apology” (1 minute 52 seconds) 23′05″ ⑬ Danger of removal of record of forced labor (1 minute 44 seconds) 24 ′ 49 ″ (11 (Titles) 70 Years Since National Liberation, We . . . seconds) ⑭ South Korea’s economy at the crossroads

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⑮ The difficulties of youth unemployment and an ageing society The tense 70 years of the children born in the year of National ⑯ Liberation 31′18″ ⑰ Silently moving the world (1 minute 41 seconds) 32′59″ ⑱ Neglected historical sites of anti-Japanese resistance (1 minute 40 seconds) 34′39″ ⑲ The loot that never returned (1 minute 39 seconds) 36′18″ (Titles) Special Report: 70 Years Since National Liberation (11 seconds) ⑳ Further explosions. Emergency evacuation of residents ㉑ Apology for nepotistic hiring of daughter ㉒ Growing into a military power with American weapons ㉓ Thai person becomes teacher of Korean (Sports news) March of hits starts again. Pittsburgh wins three straight ㉔ games. ㉕ (Sports news) Soccer: The keeper who collapsed with the goal Weather End credits

SBS August 15 On 8 News, there were seven headline stories. The first of these was President Park’s speech. The report said the president had expressed disappointment that Abe’s regret and remorse had been expressed in the past tense, and stressed the importance of actions over words. She also emphasized the importance of a resolution on the comfort women issue. The second headline pointed to clear differences between the reactions of China and the United States to Abe’s statement, while the third reported that several members of the current cabinet had visited Yasukuni Shrine the day after Abe’s statement. The fourth was a report regarding attempts on the part of the Korean government to repossess land and other assets held by pro-Japanese collaborators and their descendants. About 19 percent of the land was not repossessed due to lawsuits filed by the descendants. Twenty-three news stories were broadcast in total. The following items were connected with the end of the war: Almost all of Items 1-11 (except Item 7) dealt with President Park’s speech and related news, news related to Dokdo (Item 6), and news closely associated with the period of Japanese colonial rule (Items 8 through 11). Items 18 and 19 took up a report on the comfort women. Items relating to the anniversary took up a total of 25 minutes 15 seconds, or roughly 59 percent of the total broadcast time. The sports section (Item 23) also covered past matches between Korea and Japan.

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Items 1 through 5 The top news story was the president’s speech, but unlike KBS and MBC, which opened with coverage of the president’s remarks on relations with North Korea, 8 News began with news of the references to Prime Minister Abe’s statement as “leaving much to be desired, but [Japan] must show contrition through its actions” as the lead story. After this, there were several excerpts from the speech, showing the president saying that, “we take note of the message that was clearly conveyed to the international community; namely, that the position articulated by the previous Japanese cabinets, based on its apologies and remorse . . . will remain unshakable into the future,” and “we look to the Japanese government to match with consistent and sincere actions its declaration that the view of history articulated by its previous cabinets will be upheld, and thereby win the trust of its neighbors and the international community . . . while considerable difficulties remain, it is high time for us to move forward to a new future guided by a correct view of history.” The fourth item also concerned the Abe Statement, under the title “China demands ‘true apology’ while U.S welcomes remorse.” The newscaster said that “The Republic of Korea, the United States, and China, perhaps the three countries with the greatest right to demand an apology from Japan, have differed in their responses to the statement. While China has strongly criticized the statement, the United States, standing in urgent need of Japan’s assistance in Asia, has shown itself ready to welcome the statement. Our government seems eager to emphasize the importance of the future rather than dwelling on the statement itself.” Item 3 did not deal with the statement directly, but in an item headlined “Group visits Yasukuni again: An end to apologies?” focused on the international media attention being given to former Prime Minister Murayama’s criticism of Abe’s statement, and to Abe’s contention that future generations should not be predestined to keep apologizing. The fifth item, “Wave of Taegukgi flags sweeps the nation. We are all part of the Republic of Korea!” contained a report on a group of people who had spent the whole day in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul protesting Abe’s statement.

Items 6 and 8 through 11 Items 8 through 11 concerned the period of Japanese colonial rule, including a report (Item 8) on the difficulties of putting into practice a law passed ten years ago that allows the state to repossess assets from pro-Japanese collaborators and their descendants.

Items 18 and 19 These items featured a report on sufferings undergone by husbands and children who had lived with former comfort women (Item 18) and news of a preview screening of a film that told the life of a former comfort woman (Item 19).

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Item 23 The sports section featured a report similar to Item 25 on KBS, reporting on famous match- ups between Korea and Japan in soccer and baseball.

Figure 7. SBS 8 News August 15, Special Edition (8:00 to 8:45 p.m.) No. News item Start time Headlines Leaving much to be desired, but [Japan] must show contrition by its 0′ 00″ ① actions (22 seconds) 0′ 22″ ② China criticizes, US welcomes statement (13 seconds) 0′ 35″ ③ Group visit to Yasukuni one day after statement (12 seconds) 0′ 47″ ④ Collaborators’ land: How much has been repossessed? (15 seconds) North threatens “indiscriminate attacks” through loudspeaker ⑤ broadcasts

⑥ Deadly emissions detected, emergency evacuation ordered

⑦ Chaebol son flies into violent rage after being issued with warning News 1′ 40″ (Titles) 70 years since national liberation, Miracle on the Han River (37 seconds) Opening statement from temporary studio on Han River: “Many 2′ 17″ ① disappointing aspects in Abe Statement, but Japan must show contrition (2 minutes 18 seconds) by its actions.” Standing firm in the face of provocation. We must reunite divided 4′ 35″ ② families. (2 minutes 1 second) 6′ 36″ ③ Group visits Yasukuni again: An end to apologies? (1 minute 49 seconds) 8′ 25″ ④ China demands “true apology” while US welcomes remorse (2 minutes 10 seconds) Wave of Taegukgi flags sweeps the nation. We are all part of the 10′ 35″ ⑤ Republic of Korea! (1 minute 45 seconds) 12′ 20″ ⑥ Dokdo Coast Guard training exercises. “Will defend it by our strength.” (1 minute 52 seconds) (Korea grows more and more) Details of increases in Koreans’ income, ⑦ height, life expectancy, etc. (Intermission) 70 years since national liberation: Toward the future, 14′ 52″

toward unification (15 seconds) Ten years since special law passed, efforts to repossess collaborators’ 15′ 07″ ⑧ assets still continue (2 minutes 37 seconds) Jongno intersection “belonged to Government-General of Korea” until 17′ 44″ ⑨ 2 years ago (2 minutes 34 seconds)

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20′ 18″ ⑩ Decorated woman independence activist categorized as a man (1 minute 45 seconds) 22′ 03″ ⑪ Descendants of independence heroes struggle to make a living (1 minute 51 seconds) (Intermission) “True Liberation Means Unification” North threatens indiscriminate strikes. Army promises stern retribution ⑫ in events of provocation. ⑬ Tensions high on the frontlines. Exercises like real battle. ⑭ North begins Pyongyang time from today, 30 minutes behind 70 years of conflict and reconciliation. The pain of living on the ⑮ frontlines of history. ⑯ Divided families: half already dead (Intermission) 70 Years Since National Liberation: Toward the Future,

Toward Unification Children born in year of liberation, people unable to return home. 70 ⑰ years of sadness 35′ 55″ ⑱ A life of anxiety. A mother’s apology. (1 minute 55 seconds) 37′ 50″ ⑲ The pain of that day. Movie provokes tears. (1 minute 46 seconds) ⑳ Taegukgi flags in every household. 365 days of fluttering flags. ㉑ Deadly emissions detected. Emergency evacuation ordered in Tianjin. Chaebol heir gets warning over illegal parking, throws notebook in ㉒ rage. ㉓ Unforgettable scenes from Korea-Japan matches SBS weather End credits

ii. Reporting on Prime Minister Abe’s statement

All the channels covered treated the statement released by Prime Minister Abe on the evening of August 14 the lead story on their evening news programs.

KBS August 14 Of the 28 news items on News 9, items 1 through 4 were all directly related to Abe’s statement, taking up 6 minutes 12 seconds of broadcast time, or roughly 11 percent of the total of 56 minutes 57 seconds. The titles of each item were as follows.

○1 Abe’s insincere “past-tense apology” (1′40″) ○2 A backward step since Murayama; no mention of comfort women (1′42″)

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○3 “Sincere actions” important from Japan (1′32″) ○4 Foreign media also takes critical tone: “Statement avoids remorse, apology” (1′ 18″)

In addition to news directly concerning Prime Minister Abe’s statement, there were also reports that dealt with historical problems and today’s relationship with Japan. For example, KBS ran an item reporting that according to a public opinion poll carried out by an outside polling company in July (on 1000 adult men and women), 9 out of 10 Korean citizens thought Japan’s apologies for its past actions were “inadequate.” There was a report from Harbin on the opening of a museum on the site where the Japanese Unit 731 carried out live experiments on prisoners in Manchuria, and a piece from Berlin contrasting the attempts of Japan to deny its past with Germany’s thoroughgoing steps to prosecute and bring to justice those responsible for Nazi crimes. A report from Cambodia followed the life of a woman abducted by the Japanese army as a comfort woman at the age of 18.

MBC August 14 On News Desk, Items 1 through 3 of a total of 24 news items dealt with Abe’s statement. These took up 6 minutes 6 seconds of broadcast time, approximately 13 percent of the total time of 48 minutes 13 seconds. The titles for each item were as follows.

○1 Abe Statement Apology in Past Tense (1′52″) ○2 Ambiguously worded apology: Was it meant sincerely? (2′02″) ○3 Inadequate: “Lack of direct apology disappointing.” (2′12″)

In other news, there was also a report concerning Yi Han-ung, a diplomat of the Korean Empire who in 1905 took his own life on British soil at the age of 31 in protest against the Japanese usurpation of Korean sovereignty.

SBS August 14 Of the 23 items broadcast on 8 News, Items 1 and 2 directly dealt with Abe’s statement, for a broadcast time of 3 minutes 57 seconds, or approximately 8 percent of a total time of 3 minutes 57 seconds. The titles of each item were as follows.

○1 “Japan has repeatedly expressed remorse and apology” Abe’s statement lacks clarity (1′58″) ○2 Clever rhetoric “Lacking in sincerity” (1′59″)

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Other than news relating to Abe’s statement, Item 12 carried a report on the comfort women, whose average age is now 89, with the title “‘We’re Running Out of Time’: A Cry to Make the Blood Boil.” Then, alone among the three broadcasters covered for this survey, SBS rounded out its news program with the newscaster commenting directly on Abe’s statement. The announcer commented: “Watching Abe give his statement, I was reminded of the expression ‘Like a snake crawling across a fence.” (A Korean proverb meaning to dispose of things in a sneaky, underhanded way.”) The commentator said that Abe’s facial expression failed to convey an impression of sincerity of an apologizing person, and accused him of having simply strung the necessary words together in such an ad hoc manner that his meaning was difficult to understand. The comments closed by saying it had been unrealistic from the outset to expect a bold and sincere apology from Abe that would have fitted the historic occasion of the 70th anniversary. iii. Reporting on the Chinese anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye was present in Beijing on September 3 for the military parade and other events to commemorate victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan. All three stations treated this as their main news for the day.

KBS September 3 Of 23 items on News 9, Items 1 through 6 dealt with the Chinese celebrations, filling 12 minutes 38 seconds, or approximately 29 percent of a total broadcast time of 44 minutes 01 second. The titles for each item were as follows.

○1 President attends military parade in China to mark victory in war (1′44″) ○2 President is guest of honor alongside Xi Jinping and Putin (1′45″) ○3 China displays its military might (1′53″) ○4 What lies behind announcement of a 300,000 cut in its troops? (1′51″) ○5 Shifting relations between Korea and China: A new development in Northeast Asian diplomacy (3′22″) ○6 Most Western leaders do not attend, instead criticizing “an ostentatious display of military might” (1′45″)

Items 1 and 2 concerned the Republic of Korea’s position at the ceremonies. The first item explained that President Park was the first president of South Korea to take part in a ceremony of this kind, while the second told viewers that China had shown special honor

32 and respect for South Korea, despite the need to show due consideration for Russia, by preparing a seat for President Park next to Xi Jinping. The report also highlighted the relatively cold shoulder shown the representative from North Korea. From the third item on, attention turned to China’s military power. The third item reported that through the military parade China had demonstrated to the world that it was truly a major military power. The fourth item said that China’s decision to cut its forces by 300,000 troops was a strategic move designed to accelerate the modernization of its military. Attention, it said, was turning to what kind of influence China would bring to bear on the international community in the years to come. These two items reported the facts objectively. In the sixth item, comments from a professor at George Washington University stressed the importance of achieving balance as China became a major power. It would be a mistake for China to rely on military might alone. A report looked at the critical view of the events taken by much of the Western media (CNN, BBC, and the Yomiuri Shimbun), which many in the West saw as an ostentatious attempt to show off the country’s power. Additionally, there was an 18-second segment on news related to the comfort women in the news-in-brief section.

MBC September 3 Of the 24 stories covered on News Desk, Items 1 through 6 dealt with the Chinese commemorations, taking up 11 minutes 00 seconds, or roughly 23 percent of the total running time of 48 minutes 23 seconds. The titles of each item were as follows.

○1 First participation in military parade, improved relations between South Korea and China (1′42″) ○2 China holds biggest military parade in its history to mark anniversary of victory (2′ 00″) ○3 Shows off rise as military power with mobilization of latest weaponry (1′45″) ○4 South Korea builds foundations for a leading role in Northeast Asian affairs (2′ 01″) ○5 North Korea’s Choe Ryong-hae has to make do with place on the sidelines; the changing fortunes of North and South Korean diplomacy (1′55″) ○6 The military parade in numbers (1′37″)

Of these, items 1, 4, and 5 reflected South Korea’s standing at the ceremonies, while items 2, 3, and 6 were concerned with China’s military power.

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SBS September 3 Of the 24 news items covered on 8 News, the celebrations in China were covered in Items 1 through 8, taking up 15 minutes 35 seconds, or roughly 32 percent of the total broadcast time of 49 minutes and 13 seconds. The titles of these items are as follows:

○1 Largest ever victory commemorations; “Reconsidering history and moving toward the future” (2′12″) ○2 All the latest weaponry on display; Ambitions for rise as a military power (2′26″) ○3 Leaders from South Korea, China, and Russia stand side-by-side; Changing balance of power in Northeast Asia (1′41″) ○4 Choe Ryong-hae relegated to the sidelines; The growing distance between China and the North (1′37″) ○5 “Resistance Against Japan” is the theme of the day; The Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army makes an appearance (1′49″) ○6 70-cannon salute, a march of 121 paces: the meaning behind the numbers (1′59″) ○7 Taking the lead in the new world order; Making the Chinese Dream a reality (1′ 59″) ○8 The West an unwelcome sight; Japan emphasizes close adherence to United States (1′52″)

SBS differed from the other channels surveyed in covering China’s military power in Items 1 and 2 before moving on to South Korea’s treatment at the ceremonies in Items 3 and 4. In Item 8, the station quoted foreign media reports in a way similar to KBS, hinting at concerns at China’s emergence as a major military power and making it clear that Japan in particular was critical of the Chinese parade.

In summary, there was quite prominent coverage of the 70th anniversary of the end of the war in South Korea. All of the channels we looked at were critical of Prime Minister Abe’s statement in their reporting. Other major subjects relating to the anniversary were also covered by all stations, from reports on Dokdo and the comfort women, to the emperor’s expression of “deep remorse” at the official remembrance ceremony and the visits by members of Abe’s cabinet to Yasukuni Shrine. In coverage of China’s military parade, all three channels emphasized that President Park had been specially honored at the ceremonies and also touched on China’s emergence as a major military power. (by Norihiro Tanaka)

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4. United States

For the United States, we analyzed the evening or nightly news programming of the four major commercial broadcasters (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox) together with that of the public broadcaster PBS. ABC’s World News Tonight (Figure 8), CBS’s Evening News, and NBC’s Nightly News (Figure 9) are all 30-minute news shows that run from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. (the actual news time is around 21 minutes, discounting commercials and other content). On Saturdays and Sundays, a weekend edition is broadcast at the same time with different newsreaders. Fox broadcasts its Special Report on weekdays from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., and Fox Report Weekend on Saturdays and Sundays from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. (actual broadcast time 41 minutes). PBS broadcasts its NewsHour show from 10:00 to 11:00 p.m. (actual broadcast time around 55 minutes not counting public announcements), and a shortened 30- minute weekend edition (around 26 minutes) (Figure 10). The above broadcast times are of stations in . On August 15 and 16, CBS cancelled its regular evening news program because of a live golf broadcast. For those days, we looked at the morning news instead. To summarize our findings in brief: all five channels devoted very little coverage to the Abe Statement (August 14), the anniversary of the end of the war (August 15), or the Chinese victory parade (September 3). As examples of the news schedule for August 15, we have provided full details for two of the three commercial channels, which all followed the same format, and for the public broadcaster PBS. Of the two commercial channels for which full listings have been provided, ABC was the only one to cover the anniversary. NBC did not cover the occasion at all. i. Reporting on the anniversary of the end of the war

ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS August 15 through 17 NBC did not cover the story at all during the period we studied. On August 15, ABC and CBS ran reports on World News Tonight and This Morning examining the identity of the “mystery soldier” seen kissing a nurse in the famous photograph used by Life magazine to commemorate VJ Day. (The ABC piece ran for 1 minute 50 seconds at the 26-minute mark, near the end of the program; CBS ran a five-minute piece from the 1 hour 21-minute mark of its two-hour morning news program.) The August 15 edition of Fox Report Weekend featured video footage related to the anniversary around the 40-minute mark in the second half of the program. These ran for around 1 minute 30 seconds in total, with newscaster comments. They included footage of a “Ceremony in Japan to mourn the war dead” (40 seconds), “VJ Day ceremony in Pearl Harbor” (20 seconds), “VJ Ceremony in Britain” (20 seconds), and “Ceremony held in North

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Korea to mark liberation from Japanese colonial rule” (10 seconds). In the comments on the clip of the ceremony in Japan, the newsreader said that Prime Minister Abe had repeated apologies similar to those made in the past but had also said that future generations should not have to continue apologizing. Many people in China and Korea, the report noted, believe that Japan has not done enough to atone for its crimes during the war. PBS did not cover the story on August 15 (Saturday); its only coverage during the period studied was a 30-second clip the following day that consisted mostly of video footage of a commemorative fireworks display held in Pearl Harbor by a group from Nagaoka in Niigata prefecture. In the comments, the newscaster noted that Honolulu and Nagaoka are sister cities, and that the mayor of Nagaoka was among the visitors as the team of Japanese firework technicians launched fireworks into the skies above Honolulu in a prayer for peace.

Figure 8. ABC World News Tonight, August 15 (6:30 to 7:00 p.m.) No. News item Start time Headlines ① Air traffic chaos ② California wildfires ③ Presidential primaries: latest on the candidates ④ Man’s life saved by Siri 0′57″ ⑤ Who is the kissing soldier? (7 seconds) News ① Computer error causes air traffic chaos ② Large-scale wildfires continue in southern California ③ Accident in Yosemite campsite ④ Parachute accident at airshow ⑤ Trump and Clinton move on to Iowa ⑥ Latest running news from explosion in port of Tianjin ⑦ Ferry sinks in Philippines ⑧ Cuba set for increase in tourists? ⑨ New gas station scam Commercials ⑩ Siri calls ambulance, saves man’s life Commercials ⑪ Gay NFL player retires ⑫ Effects of video games ⑬ Latest on new Star Wars movie Commercials 26′50″ ⑭ New clues to identity of mystery VJ Day kissing couple (1 minute 50 seconds) End credits

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Figure 9. NBC Nightly News, August 15 (6:30 to 7:00 p.m.) No. News items Start time Headlines ① California wildfires ② Air traffic chaos ③ Presidential election candidates ④ Wrongful arrest and conviction ⑤ Old-fashioned ice creams still popular News ① Large-scale wildfires continue in southern California ② Computer error causes air traffic chaos ③ Trump moves on to Iowa ④ Latest from the Clinton campaign ⑤ Memorial ceremony for five soldiers killed ⑥ Latest on the explosions in Tianjin Commercials ⑦ Man wrongly arrested for murder: What happened next Commercials ⑧ 50 years since the Beatles arrived in America ⑨ Ice cream news Commercials ⑩ The cameraman who has filmed Fidel Castro for years End credits

Figure 10. PBS NewsHour Weekend, August 15 (10:00 to 10:30 p.m.) No. News item Start time Headlines [Headlines were not included on the DVD sent from USA] Main news ① Problems with releasing prisoners from Guantanamo ② Latest on Tianjin explosion ③ Crisis mounts as refugees cross Mediterranean ④ Plans to increase Secret Service recruits ⑤ Increasing numbers of police dying on active service ⑥ Latest on river pollution in Colorado ⑦ Special report: How to stop declining education standards. Interview 1 ⑧ Special report: How to stop declining education standards. Interview 2 ⑨ Special Report 2: Solar panels in Hawaii ⑩ Heatwave in Egypt, 50 years since Beatlemania hit America End credits

37 ii. Reporting on Prime Minister Abe’s statement

None of the four commercial channels covered the statement. Public broadcaster PBS was the only channel to report the statement at all, in its NewsHour program broadcast on August 14. The statement was the sixth of six main news stories at the top of the program, with the newsreader summarizing parts of Abe’s statement in English translation with comments for a total of 56 seconds. The format of the weekday edition of NewsHour is for the presenter to read the main news of the day for five to ten minutes first. This is followed by a second segment in which four to six items are covered in greater depth, including reports and interviews. The coverage of Abe’s statement used clips in which the prime minister was seen saying, “I bow my head deeply before the souls of all those who perished both at home and abroad,” and “We must not let our children, grandchildren, and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize.” The presenter commented that Abe had not added any new apology to those already made in the past. The comments noted that feelings about Japan’s wartime conduct remain strong in China and Korea, and mentioned that the Chinese media had criticized Abe’s remarks as a “tuned- down apology.” The main news of the day was Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Cuba to mark the restoration of diplomatic relations after 54 years. This report and related interviews filled more than 20 minutes of broadcast time.

The main stories on all channels this week were the restoration of diplomatic ties with Cuba, the massive wildfires in California, the explosion in Tianjin port, and the latest news from the campaigns of Donald Trump and other candidates in the presidential primary elections. Offering little visual potential or dynamism, the subject of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II seems to have lacked appeal for American TV news stations. iii. Reporting on the Chinese anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan

ABC and NBC did not cover the story in the period September 3 through 5. On CBS, there was a brief piece on Evening News on September 3 with comments on the military parade in China. This lasted around 25 seconds, from the 22-minute mark during the second half of the program. Fox broadcast a two-minute report from its Pentagon correspondent, four minutes into its Special Report on September 3. The piece said that while China was strengthening its military in terms of equipment, President Xi had announced spending cuts and a reduction of 300,000 in troop numbers. The report also emphasized the blossoming “honeymoon” relationship between China and Russia. There was no on-the-spot reporting from China;

38 instead, images from Chinese official broadcasts and stock images made up the bulk of the footage. PBS featured a two-minute report as the seventh item at the top of its NewsHour show on September 3. The piece was provided by a reporter from Britain’s ITV, from which PBS gets its foreign news, and reported from Tiananmen Square. The content focused on the modernization of China’s forces and the cuts of 300,000 troops, but also emphasized that China still retained a huge fighting force of 2 million troops. In particular, the report underlined the fact that the ceremony had served to demonstrate President Xi’s authority, and said that many neighboring countries were apprehensive about China’s rise as a major power. The report closed with a clip of jet fighters in flight and the comment that “Changing the weather, if he wants to. The infamous Beijing smog was cleared for this occasion. So little stands in his way.”

For the purpose of comparison, we also looked at coverage in as a representative example of the American print media. The Times carried reports filed by its Tokyo correspondent on the Abe Statement and the anniversary of the end of the war in its August 15 edition (Late edition, as below, p. A4 International News) under the headline “Premier’s Remorse for Japan’s Aggression Stops Short of Apology.” Another article appeared on August 16 (p. A10) under the headline “Japan’s Emperor Expresses ‘Deep Remorse’ for War.” The length of the two articles was 620 words and 990 words respectively. On the subject of China’s anniversary celebrations, the New York Times carried a full- page article on page A6 on September 3 (1,930 words) headed “During Show of Force, China Announces It Will Cut Military by 300,000” The next day’s paper carried two articles: “Rocky Economy Test Friendship of Xi and Putin” (pp. 1 and A6), and “Parade Gives Chinese Leader a Platform to Show Grip on Power.” (pp. A4 and A6). Almost all of p. A6 was taken up by these two stories. The articles were 1,280 and 1,490 words respectively. It is not easy to make a direct comparison between television and the print media, but this brief summary makes clear that although these three topics were not prominently covered on television, they were given considerable space in the New York Times, with China-related news attracting particular attention. American television news generally focuses most of its attention on “local” news, and tends to carry rather detailed reports. The running order of the news items carried by the three major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) on September 3 shows that each station carried reports on between 7 and 10 items in the 15 minutes or so that make up the first half of the program before the first commercial break. (This is the most important part of the program.) On all three channels, the only international news concerned the plight of Syrian refugees. With slight differences, the channels all covered more or less the same domestic news stories: a clerk’s refusal to issue marriage licenses to gay couples in Kentucky, the latest

39 news on the primaries, and the criminal proceedings being brought against the person responsible for the massacre of worshipers in an African-American church. In comparison, the anniversary-related news stories that are the focus of this study seem to have held little news value for American television. (by Atsushi Shibata)

5. United Kingdom i. Reporting on the anniversary of the end of the war

Our analysis of British television news focused on three channels: the public broadcaster BBC’s News at Ten (Figure 11), ITV’s rival News at Ten (Figure 12), which has the second largest audience share, and Channel 4 News (Figure 13), operated by a non-profit organization. In the United Kingdom, Germany’s surrender is marked on May 8 as VE (Victory in Europe) Day, while August 15 is marked as VJ (Victory Over Japan) Day. On August 15, 2015 a ceremony led by Queen Elizabeth was held to commemorate the 70th anniversary of VJ Day, after which there was a parade in in which a number of World War II veterans took part. BBC broadcast the events live from midday and covered the ceremonies prominently on the evening news. ITV and Channel 4 also covered the commemorations as one of the main news stories of the day, including interviews with former servicemen. Most of the content focused on British soldiers who had fought against the Japanese armies in the Far East, though the BBC also included footage of Japan’s memorial service for the war dead and a report from Yasukuni Shrine. The details of each channel’s coverage are summarized below.

BBC August 15 Since August 15 was a Saturday, the program was shorter than usual and ran for about 20 minutes from 10:00 p.m. News at Ten opened with three headlines: VJ Day, the Scottish Labour Party’s leadership election, and the Rugby World Cup. Following the headlines, the 70th anniversary of VJ Day was the day’s lead news story, with related reports taking up 5 minutes 20 seconds. This was the equivalent of around 46 percent of the total running time. Coverage was divided into two main parts. The first dealt with events in Britain, the second events in Japan. Coverage began with footage of the VJ Day commemoration attended by the queen and the prime minister, David Cameron. The BBC mentioned that the queen had cut short her summer holidays to attend the special ceremony. Using archive footage from World War II, the report reminded viewers that some 30,000 British troops lost their lives in the Asia-Pacific conflict, as well as thousands more Commonwealth forces

40 from Australia, , India, and Africa. The second half reported on events to mark the end of the war in Japan. The studio newsreader said that a ceremony had also been held in Japan and that the emperor had expressed “profound remorse.” This was followed by a report from the BBC’s correspondent in Japan. The report began with a sound recording of Emperor Hirohito urging his people to “endure the unendurable” as he announced the Japanese surrender in his famous radio broadcast at the end of the war. The report went on to explain that his son the present emperor, had expressed his pain in the face of history, and introduced the following excerpt from the emperor’s remarks in English translation: “Reflecting on our past and bearing in mind the feelings of deep remorse over the last war, I earnestly hope that the ravages of war will never be repeated.” This was followed by images of two women from Prime Minister Abe’s cabinet visiting Yasukuni Shrine, accompanied by critical remarks: “But not everyone shares the emperor’s contrition. These two members of PM Shinzo Abe’s cabinet joined dozens of MPs at the notorious Yasukuni Shrine…It’s home to the spirits of the Japanese war dead, including 12 Japan’s war time leaders who were executed as war criminals.” The BBC’s journalist reported from Yasukuni, saying, “Throughout the day, vast crowds lined up in this seething heat to pray for the dead. There’s no doubt for the vast majority of people here lining up today, there’s nothing political about August 15. It is about commemorating the 2.5 million Japanese men and women who died. But there are also those amongst the crowds to whom Japan’s World War history is not shameful but glorious.” This was followed by a clip from an interview with a rightist who says: “We don’t need to apologize. Those apologies stupid leaders made in the 1990 were a disgrace and unforgivable.” The report closed with the following comments. “Seventy years on, Japan is still deeply divided over what the war means. It’s one reason why its neighbors don’t automatically believe it when Japan’s leaders say they are sorry.”

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Figure 11. BBC News at Ten, August 15 (10:00 to 10:17 p.m.) No. News item Start time Headlines 0′07″ ① 70th anniversary of VJ Day (20 seconds) ② Scotland’s Labour Party chooses new leader ③ England beat France in Rugby World Cup warm-up game News 0′55″ ① Anniversary ceremonies for VJ Day (2 minutes 46 seconds) 3′41″ ② August 15 in Japan (2 minutes 34 seconds) ③ Scottish Labour Party chooses new leader ④ Labor Party leadership election ⑤ Migrant deaths in the Mediterranean ⑥ Latest on Tianjin explosion: leak of toxic substances? Sports news Rugby World Cup warmup games ⑦ England vs. France, Ireland vs. Scotland ⑧ Premier League football results (England and Scotland) ⑨ PGA Golf ⑩ International equestrianism ⑪ Boxing European championships ⑫ Women’s basketball Closing remarks

ITV August 15 News at Ten showed archive footage of the atom bomb and British prisoners-of-war held by the Japanese, but there was no direct discussion of events in Japan today. The day’s broadcast was a special edition of just 15 minutes, shorter than the regular program, starting at 11:10 p.m. There were three headlines: VJ Day, Refugees, and the Rugby World Cup. After the headlines the program moved immediately to VJ Day, which was covered for 7 minutes 2 seconds. This was equivalent to roughly 69 percent of the day’s news. The studio newsreader began by saying “Seventy years ago today, the biggest human conflict in history, the Second World War ended with victory over Japan. Today, on the anniversary of VJ day, the queen led commemoration to remember those who died in the far East.” followed by footage of the ceremony. The report focused mostly on war veterans, with interviews stressing the trauma of the experience and the psychological scars that remained today.

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Figure 12. ITV News at Ten, August 15 (11:10 to 11:25 p.m.) No. News item Start time Headlines 0′30″ ① 70th anniversary of VJ Day (36 seconds) ② Refugees in the Mediterranean ③ Rugby World Cup warmup games News 1′35″ ① 70th anniversary of VJ Day (4 minutes 1 second) 5′36 ″ ② Interviews with veterans (2 minutes 24 seconds) ③ Chaos as fights break out among refugees in Greece Brief news ④ Latest on Tianjin explosion ⑤ EU agrees Greek bailout package ⑥ Scottish Labour Party elects new leader Sports News Rugby World Cup warmup games ⑦ England vs. France, Ireland vs. Scotland ⑧ Football Premier League results ⑨ PGA golf News 13′ 05″ ⑩ VJ Day ceremonies summary (37 seconds) End credits

Channel 4 August 15 Channel 4 News carried four headlines: Scottish Labour Party chooses new leader, VJ Day, educational reforms, and football. The lead story was the Scottish Labour Party’s election of its new leader. This report lasted for more than five minutes, and was followed by news on the 70th anniversary of VJ Day. VJ Day news lasted for 3 minutes 50 seconds, or approximately 22 percent of the total broadcast time. Most of the content of the report was taken up with reports on anniversary parades held in Britain and interviews with former soldiers. The report recalled the mood of celebration that had swept the country when Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945 and soldiers began to return home from Europe, but reminded viewers that in Asia the war had continued to rage for another three months until the Japanese finally surrendered. Images of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan were used to illustrate this. Focusing on “forgotten soldiers,” the

43 report introduced one former soldier saying that they grew old “with the years remembering the heartache, pain and tears” and an interview in which a veteran said the memory of the Royal Marine he couldn’t save still haunts him. ” During the report the journalist said that “many of those who survived felt their sufferings were eclipsed by the horrors of Auschwitz.” The report closed by remarking that with the average age of the 50 or so veterans who attended the parade now around 90, this would probably be the last time most of them attended this kind of commemorative event. Regarding events in Japan, the program showed footage of Prime Minister Abe at the national memorial ceremony, and commented that he had made no new apology.

Figure 13. Channel 4, Channel 4 News, August 15 (6:40 to 7:00 p.m.) No. News item Start time Headlines ① Scottish Labour Party chooses new leader 0′50″ ② 70th anniversary of VJ Day (18 seconds) ③ Proposed changes to education system ④ Football News ① Scottish Labour Party chooses new leader. Interview with new leader. 6′42″ ② 70th anniversary of VJ Day (3 minutes 50 seconds) ③ Rescues underway as refugee crisis continues in Mediterranean ④ EU agrees bailout plan for Greece ⑤ Latest news on explosion in Tianjin ⑥ Proposed education reforms: Report and studio interview Sports news ⑦ Football: Premier League results Closing remarks ii. Reporting on Prime Minister Abe’s statement

In the United Kingdom, both the BBC and ITV reported Abe’s statement on August 14, but only in connection with the following day’s VJ Day commemorations, and neither channel treated the statement itself as a main news item. Channel 4 did not cover the statement on its August 14 program; on the 15th, as already mentioned, there was a comment from their reporter to the effect that there had been “no new apology.” A summary of the BBC’s and ITV’s reporting of the Abe Statement follows.

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BBC August 14 Abe’s statement was not among the headlines, which were as follows: Paparazzi problem for Prince George/Peer in child abuse trial/US embassy reopens in Cuba/Explosion in Tianjin/Sports. The Abe Statement was mentioned at the end of the main news, as the newsreader looked ahead to the VJ Day ceremonies the following day, mentioning that Japan’s prime minister had made a statement and explaining that he had avoided certain expressions: “Japan’s Prime Minister expressed his regret for the immeasurable suffering his country caused but avoided saying that Japan had fought a war of aggression.” This was followed by a report of around three minutes from the BBC’s Tokyo correspondent. The reporter commented that the war began “with astonishing victories that Japanese troops swept across China. As they did, they committed unspeakable crimes. Seventy years on, Japan still struggles to come to term with its history,” before introducing part of Abe’s speech in English translation. “Japan has repeatedly expressed feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war. That position will remain unshakeable into the future.” The BBC’s coverage of Abe’s statement was followed by a report from Yasukuni Shrine, saying that “it may seem odd that 70 years after the war ended, we’re still arguing whether this country has apologized enough. But unlike Germany, Japan has never had a full reckoning with history. Prime Minister Abe’s own grandfather served in the war cabinet and the current emperor’s father was never held responsible for the atrocities committed in his name.” Next was an interview with a former prisoner-of-war forced to work on the construction of the Burma Railway, who said he and his comrades had been “treated like slaves.” The BBC also interviewed a former soldier on the Japanese side, who said that young Japanese soldiers at the time were expected to give up their lives for the emperor, and were told not to come home alive. Finally, the report ended with footage of rightists dressed in military uniforms, with the concluding comment that: “Every year on August 15 there are scenes like these at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. The emperor cult is not yet dead. That is why trust in Japan’s apology is still so fragile.”

ITV August 14 The headlines were as follows: Interview with euthanasia patient/Paparazzi problems for Prince George/Peer on trial for child abuse/70th anniversary of VJ Day tomorrow. The item about VJ Day came at the end, after all the other news. The report lasted a little under three minutes. First, the studio newsreader announced that “This weekend will mark the 70th anniversary of the day World War II finally ended. The joyous scenes here when

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Japan finally surrendered will be remembered in commemoration. But the words of the Japanese PM today stirred lingering bitterness too.” The report showed footage of Abe visiting a grave and said “The Prime Minister was in thoughtful mood as he visited the grave of his father today ahead of a speech he knew the world would listen to, waiting one word “apology.” In the event, Shinzo Abe upheld previous apologies for the sufferings inflicted by Japan during World War II.” Accompanied by footage of Abe delivering his remarks, the report said that, “He expressed [his] utmost grief but added that future generations of Japanese should not have to keep apologizing for the past.” This was followed by an interview with a 91-year-old British veteran of the conflict, who reacted to the lack of any fresh apology in Abe’s own words: “He should apologize. He should be showing his apologies. The young people lost their lives…murdered, you know. The terrible things for their families, they never forget it.” This was followed by more interviews, including one with a British woman who was captured by Japanese troops and placed in a camp in China. iii. Reporting on the Chinese anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan

On , the body of a Syrian child was washed up on a beach in Turkey, suddenly focusing media attention on the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean. On September 3, when China held its Victory Parade, British broadcasters were devoting most of their news broadcast time to the refugee crisis. The BBC and ITV covered the Chinese anniversary of victory as the second item after the refugee crisis, but both channels focused attention only on the military parade. Channel 4 did not cover the ceremonies in China at all.

BBC September 3 The headlines on News at Ten ran in this order: Refugee Crisis (with the main news presenter live from Budapest)/China holds massive military parade held to mark 70th anniversary of victory over Japan/Sports/Local News. The report on the Chinese commemorations took up 3 minutes and 3 seconds of the total broadcast time of 28 minutes and 5 seconds, and was presented by a journalist reporting from Beijing. The report described the military parade and tried to interpret President Xi’s intentions. The reporter suggested that Mr. Xi wanted to demonstrate that he was in control of the country and that he was trying to shift the balance of power in East Asia, suggesting that, “With the economy in trouble and politics off limits, President Xi Jin Ping should show inspirational themes to unite his public. So no wonder a strong military becomes such an important part of his narrative of rising great China.” The report also looked at those in attendance at the ceremonies, saying that “It was a display of China’s military ambition that many countries didn’t want to be seen to endorse. Leaders from wartime allies like the Unites

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States and Britain stayed away. President Putin was a guest of honor, Russia ever closer to China since its relations with the West soured.” Finally, there was a clip from Xi’s speech in which he said that: “We [Chinese] love peace. No matter how much stronger it may become, China will never seek hegemony or expansion.” The report closed by saying “Nowhere it is attempt at reconciliation between former enemies…It was less about healing the wounds of history than about using the past for present political purposes.”

ITV September 3 The military parade in China was not mentioned among the headlines on News at Ten. Considerable time was given to the refugee crisis, followed by several shorter stories. Only after this was there a report from Beijing on the Chinese ceremonies. The report took 2 minutes 10 seconds, of a total broadcast time of 27 minutes 48 seconds. ITV took a similar approach to the BBC, describing the parade as a “spectacle showing the intimidating advancement of its weaponry,” and commenting that “this is very much President Xi Jinping’s show, his way of stoking patriotism and try to command respect from the rest of the world.” The report pointed out that although Xi Jinping announced that China will cut the number of its troops by 300,000, this still leaves China with armed forces of over 2 million and it didn’t “reduce regional worries of those wary of China’s real ambition.” Finally, the report ended with a note of warning: “President Xi wants to become one of the China’s strongest leaders. This is a man who can grind the city to a halt, change the weather if he wants to. The infamous Beijing smog was cleared for this occasion. So little stands in his way.” (by Takanobu Tanaka)

IV. OBSERVATIONS

The following remarks summarize our findings, organized under three headings. i. Reporting on the anniversary of the end of the war

In Japan, August 15 is officially designated as a day on which to remember the war dead and offer prayers for peace. The emperor and prime minister represent the government at an official memorial service.

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1. Volume of reporting

This measures anniversary-related news as a proportion of total news broadcast time in the five countries covered by our study. We focused our analysis on August 15, the day on which broadcasters generally featured the largest concentration of relevant news.

2. Characteristics of the reporting

Focusing on August 15, we pulled together the main characteristics of reporting in each country.

Figure 14. Reporting on War Anniversary as a Proportion of Total News Coverage in the Countries Studied (by Channel) August 15

Note: Not including headlines, sports, weather, ending, and commercials. *Proportion of anniversary-related coverage on NHK’s News 7 shown for comparison: Related news filled 10 minutes 12 seconds, or approx. 51 percent of total time, not including headlines, sports, weather, and end credits.

China: Approximately 38 percent of the news on CCTV’s Xinwen Lianbo was related to the anniversary. The program covered ceremonies in various parts of China, as well as in South and North Korea, to commemorate 70 years since liberation, but there was no mention of the memorial service in Japan. On August 16 the program covered related news from overseas, including a Singapore documentary on the Japanese military

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occupation and commemorative events in Australia and the United Kingdom. In China, most of the news relating to the end of the war was broadcast in the period September 3 through 5, with a smaller amount broadcast between August 15 and 17.

Taiwan: None of the coverage of the anniversary concerned trends within China. Although there were reports covering the comfort women issue as a problem affecting Taiwan, noting that “President Ma Ying-jeou called on Japan to strengthen its response on the comfort women issue,” the issue was also treated as a foreign news item, with reports noting that “South Korea called on Japan to resolve the comfort women issue.” As a whole, the volume of reporting was smaller than in China and South Korea. On Public Television the 70th anniversary of the end of the war was the lead story in the international news section. Formosa TV gave the story a much lower priority, reporting related items as the 25th and 26th items on its news broadcast.

South Korea: All the channels we covered gave prominent coverage to the national celebrations to mark liberation from Japanese colonial rule. News related to the anniversary made up a high proportion of the news on all three channels: 56 percent on KBS, 51 percent on MBC, and 59 percent on SBS. More than half of all news reports in South Korea on August 15 had some connection to Japan, and all three channels featured items on the Dokdo dispute and the comfort women issue.

USA: There was little coverage of related news on any of the days we studied. Broadcasters gave more attention to contemporary news such as the disruption caused to air traffic by a computer malfunction, large-scale forest fires in California, and the latest developments in the presidential primaries than to the historical events of World War II.

United Kingdom: Broadcasters covered VJ Day prominently as one of the main stories of the day alongside news of the Scottish Labour Party’s leadership election and refugee crisis. The BBC featured a report from Yasukuni Shrine and interviews with Japanese rightists.

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3. How was Japan portrayed?

Figure 15. Coverage of Japan on August 15 Abe Emperor’ Yasukuni Comfort Territorial Future Atomic Country Channel Statement s remarks visits women issue relations bombings China CCTV Yes No Yes Yes No No No

Public Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Taiwan Formosa Yes No No No No No No

KBS Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No South MBC Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Korea SBS Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No

ABC No No No No No No No

USA NBC No No No No No No No PBS No No No No No No No

BBC Yes Yes Yes No No No No

UK ITV No No No No No No Yes CH4 Yes No No No No No Yes

How did broadcasters in the five countries portray Japan? Figure 14 shows the key points of reports relating to Japan. This analysis is based on reports broadcast on August 15, when relevant news coverage was at its heaviest. Several points emerge from this tally. • South Korea covered Japan more broadly than any of the other countries we studied. • The emperor’s expression of “profound remorse” was mentioned by Public , by KBS, MBC, and SBS in South Korea, and by the BBC in the United Kingdom. Taiwan Public Television made a comment to the effect that the emperor’s apology was more profound than the prime minister’s statement. The BBC looked back on history, using footage of Emperor Hirohito before quoting the current emperor at the ceremony on August 15 saying: “Reflecting on our past and bearing in mind the feelings of deep remorse over the last war, I earnestly hope that the ravages of war will never be repeated.” In South Korea, all three channels drew a contrast between the emperor’s first ever expression of “deep remorse” at an official government memorial ceremony and the visits by several members of the Abe cabinet and other Diet members to Yasukuni Shrine. • The visits to Yasukuni Shrine were covered by CCTV in China, Taiwan Public Television, the three Korean stations, and the BBC. In China, CCTV broadcast an item headed “China criticizes visit to Yasukuni Shrine by a number of Japanese Cabinet and Diet members,” while Taiwanese Public Television broadcast two consecutive

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items headlined “Japanese militarists hold rally at Yasukuni Shrine” and “Two Japanese cabinet ministers visit Yasukuni Shrine.” In Korea, KBS reported the “Group visit to Yasukuni” as its second headline, while MBC also featured the visits to Yasukuni as its second headline along with news that former prime minister Tomiichi Maruyama had criticized Abe’s statement for failing to make clear what he was apologizing for. On SBS, the third headline was an item reporting that a “group of current cabinet ministers visited Yasukuni Shrine the day after Abe’s statement.” The BBC showed footage of two women members of the cabinet at the shrine, commenting that “not everyone shares the emperor’s contrition. These two members of PM Shinzo Abe’s cabinet joined dozens of MPs at the notorious Yasukuni Shrine…It’s home to the spirits of the Japanese war dead, including 12 of Japan’s war time leaders who were executed as war criminals.” followed by a report from a correspondent at the shrine. • The comfort women issue was covered in China, by Taiwan Public TV, and the three Korean channels, but there were differences in the way they treated the subject. In China there was only a 23-second short news item, while Taiwan Public Television broadcast two items on the story: “President Ma Ying-jeou calls for stronger action on comfort women issue” and “South Korea calls for resolution to comfort women issue.” In South Korea, all three channels reported that President Park had mentioned the Abe Statement in her speech, saying that “We take note . . . that the position articulated by the previous Japanese cabinets, based on its apologies and remorse . . . for the comfort women victims . . . will remain unshakable into the future,” and reported that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had called on the Japanese government to take proactive steps to resolve the comfort women issue. KBS carried one report on the comfort women; SBS carried two. • China, Taiwan, and South Korea all have differences of opinion with Japan regarding territorial rights in the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands and Takeshima (Dokdo). South Korea was the only country in which the issue was raised in news coverage during the period studied. All three of the Korean channels included the issue in their coverage. • KBS in Korea was the only channel to include a perspective on future relations with Japan in its coverage, with a report including a live link between Seoul and Shibuya (Tokyo) on “How young people in the two countries see the relationship.” • Images of the atomic bombing were used to symbolize the end of the war by ITV and Channel 4 in the United Kingdom.

51 ii. Reporting on Prime Minister Abe’s statement

The prime minister’s statement to mark the anniversary was reported in all five countries studied. The following summary is based on a compilation of comments made during the news broadcasts in each.

• China (CCTV) Abe’s statement avoids direct apology. • Taiwan (Public TV, TVBS, Formosa) Public: Japanese prime minister uses the word “apology,” expresses remorse for comfort women and past aggression. TVBS: Expresses remorse, apology, and condolences, also specifically mentions Taiwan. Formosa: Acknowledges, apologizes for aggression. • Korea (KBS, MBC, SBS) KBS: “Apologizes in past tense, steps back from Murayama Statement, international media united in criticism.” MBC: Apologizes in past tense, ambiguous expression of apology, regrettable lack of direct apology. SBS: Abe statement unclear, devious discourse, lacking in sincerity. • USA (PBS only) Did not make new apology. • UK (BBC and ITV only) BBC: Expressed his deep remorse but avoided mention of “war of aggression.” ITV: Today, the Japanese prime minister’s words continue to cause disappointment.

Footage of the statement using the prime minister’s own voice were broadcast in Taiwan (3 channels), Korea (3 channels), the United States (1 channel), United Kingdom (1 channel). The extracts used by the various broadcasters in their reports are shown on the (abridged) copy of the Abe Statement on pp. 61–63. Footage of the Murayama Statement issued by the then prime minister on the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the war was used by TVBS in Taiwan, and by KBS and SBS in South Korea.

52 iii. Reporting on the Chinese anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance against Japan

1. Volume of coverage

In this section we look at the proportion of total news time taken up by items related to the Chinese commemorations. For this comparison we looked at data for September 3, the day on which news coverage was concentrated in all countries except China itself. In contrast to August 15, the places with the highest volumes of coverage relating to the anniversary of the end of the war on this date were China and Taiwan, followed by Korea. In the United Kingdom and the United States there was less coverage on this date compared to August 15.

Figure 16. News Related to the 70th Anniversary of the End of WWII as a Proportion of Total News (by Channel), September 3

Note: Not including headlines, sports, weather, end credits, and commercials. * For the purposes of comparison, equivalent details are also provided for NHK’s Newswatch 9 program, on which related news took up 21 minutes 37 seconds. This was equivalent to approximately 49 percent of the total broadcast time, not counting headlines, sports, weather, and end credits.

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2. Characteristics of coverage

Figure 17. News Relating to the Fiftieth Anniversary of the End of the War 1995 CCTV (China) Xinwen Lianbo (6:55 to 7:40 p.m.) Date News item Time Ceremonies and events nationwide to commemorate 50 years since 2′13″ victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan Revealed: The invading Japanese general killed at Huangtu 3′52″ Drama preview: Huangtu 1939 0′31″ Collection of photographs published to commemorate victory against 0′50″ Japan Unions hold victory celebrations 0′34″ Religious bodies hold victory symposium 2′42″ August 14 Victory celebrations in Hong Kong 0′51″ Wreaths laid at heroes’ monument in Hong Kong 0′34″ Chinese Americans hold commemoration concert 1′16″ Medical units visit site of war base 0′33″ Encyclopedia of WWII published 0′20″ CCTV completes commemorative song program 0′30″ British Commonwealth countries hold commemoration service in 1′ 01″ Yokohama, representative expresses dissatisfaction with Murayama Jiang Zemin visits War Memorial Museum and Marco Polo Bridge 4′59″ August 15 Sino-Japanese Friendship: Group of former Japanese soldiers visits 0′15″ China, Marco Polo Bridge and Nanking Massacre Memorial Museum Resistance War Memorial completed 4′40″ Party Committee members hold celebratory choir performance 0′30″ Art exhibition held to celebrate victory 1′22″ New play on Resistance War performed 0′23″ Series of books published to commemorate war 0′24″ August 16 Chinese naval troops to join celebrations to mark 50th anniversary of 1′04″ Indonesian independence UN Security Council holds meeting to mark 50 years since end of war 0′39″ Events around the world to mark victory against Japan (North, South 1′26″ Korea and other countries) Celebrations to mark 48 years of Indian independence 0′34″ Exhibition of calligraphy by veterans to celebrate victory 0′53″ August 17 Veterans’ photography exhibition to celebrate victory 0′20″ Performance of the Eighth Route Army song 0′29″

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The following summary of the characteristics of reporting in the five countries covered was based primarily on news broadcast on September 3. In the past, large-scale military parades in China had been held on National Day on October 1, largely for domestic consumption within China, but this time the parade was held on September 3 to commemorate victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan and was planned very much with the outside world in mind. Large numbers of troops from Russia and other countries with close ties to China also took part. In his speech at the ceremony, President Xi Jinping said that China would continue to walk a path of peaceful development, would never seek hegemony or expansion, and announced a cut of 300,000 troops. Apart from in itself, the only stations that used coverage of the speech with sound clips of the president’s voice were TVBS in Taiwan, which reported on the cuts of 300,000 troops, and the BBC, which reported the part in which Xi said “We [Chinese] love peace. No matter how much stronger it may become, China will never seek hegemony or expansion.” All the other channels that reported on the events in China also touched on Xi’s announcement of plans to cut troops, although they did not use sound in their clips. In Taiwan in particular, news channels tended to report this aspect of the speech in considerable detail, as can be seen from the topics covered by TVBS in its coverage: “Dongfeng 15B and 16 missiles have Taiwan in range,” “Dongfeng 21D has a range of 3,200 km,” “The new model Dongfeng 26 medium-range nuclear missile aims at aircraft carriers,” “1,500 missiles are aimed at Taiwan,” “Two-thirds are medium- to long- range missiles, most likely for use against the U.S. and Japan.” In South Korea, news tended to focus on the position of South Korea as represented at the ceremony by President Park Geun-hye, but the news also featured interviews with critics regarding the cool or detached attitude of the Western countries that shunned the ceremony, which was also introduced through a mention of critical editorials from the BBC, CNN, and the Yomiuri Shimbun. The BBC and ITV in the United Kingdom, and Fox and PBS in the United States also broadcast reports. PBS used a report from an ITV reporter in Beijing, and described the parade as a display of military might. In general, news on this day on channels other than CCTV by and large did not touch on the historical aspects of the 70th anniversary, instead concentrating on China today, and in particular on its rise as a military power.

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Figure 18 News Relating to the Fiftieth Anniversary of the End of the War 1995 KBS (South Korea) News 9 (9:00 to 9:40 p.m.) Date News item Time President Kim invites to Blue House participants in World Korean 1′59″ Folk Festival Former Japanese Government General Building demolished 1′43″ The tumultuous history of the Government General Building from 1′40″ construction to demolition August 14 Rehearsals for Liberation Day celebrations 1′42″ Remaining Japanese Shinto shrine buildings in Gyeongju 2′00″ Korean cultural treasures in Japan 1′05″ Daughter of Independence Army general in China visits Korea 1′52″ Still no ceremonies to mourn Koreans lost in the Philippines 2′44″ Ceremony to mark 50 years since National Liberation Day 2′00″ Spires removed from former colonial government building 1′49″ President’s Liberation Day speech 3′03″ President unveils vision for the twenty-first century 2′00″ National Liberation Day celebrations at Independence Memorial Hall 2′23″ The Korean Peninsula seen from an F-16 fighter 3′59″ WWII: 50 years after defeat in Germany and Japan (report from 11′10″ August 15 special correspondent, live by satellite) Provisional Government of Republic of Korea building restored in 3′33″ Ethnic Koreans in Sakhalin 2′34″ Living witnesses to the war (Philippines) 3′06″ Koreans in Tashkent, Uzbekistan 3′05″ Celebrations to mark 50 years since National Liberation in Han River 2′03″ Citizens’ Park Celebrations nationwide to mark 50 years since National Liberation 1′53″ Prime Minister Murayama offers apology for comfort women 1′54″ Prime Minister Murayama writes letter to president apologizing for 1′57″ past Japanese media demand substantive response on PM’s statement 1′34″ August 16 Starting point for a new half-century (politics, society) 4′49″ Spread of Japanese culture gathering pace 2′18″ Ceremonies around the world to commemorate the end of the war 1′52″ “Age of Inspiration” song: Was a Japanese collaborationist song 1′45″ played at the Liberation Day parade? August 17 Starting point for a new half-century (economics, culture) 4′53″

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V. SUMMARY

On the occasion of 70 years since the end of World War II, we have looked at reporting on the end of the war on the main evening anchored news shows on the main television channels in five countries. The NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute carried out a similar survey on a larger scale on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the war. We will now consider the chief characteristics of the reporting as we found them, referring to the results of the previous survey twenty years ago as a point of comparison. In 1995, the institute carried out a large-scale major research survey project to see how television around the world had broadcast the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the war. This project gathered and analyzed the main news from the chief television channels in twenty- six countries that were involved in World War II, focusing on two periods centering around the end of the war Europe in May and the end of the war in the Asia-Pacific region in August. Both the scale and the period of the two surveys were different, making simple comparison between them difficult. Nevertheless, it is possible to discern differences in the news reporting related to the war and issues of concern between these two surveys, conducted twenty years apart. Figures 17 and 18 show the stories covered on the main evening news on CCTV and KBS for the period August 14 through 17, 1995—the period where a direct comparison between the two anniversaries is possible. This reveals that in China the amount of reporting for the 70th anniversary was more than twice the volume shown on the fiftieth anniversary, in particular on August 15. In South Korea, by contrast, the broadcast time was longer for the fiftieth anniversary, though subjects like the comfort women and the anti-Japanese resistance members killed in live experiments, along with the visits of politicians to Yasukuni Shrine, were more prominently covered in 2015 than they were twenty years ago. In the United States the volume of news coverage of the anniversary dropped dramatically compared to twenty years ago, but in South Korea and China interest in the subject was undiminished. In South Korea, in particular, despite a small amount of coverage that looked to the future, the overall tone continued to be dominated by an insistence on Japanese responsibility. Seventy years after the war ended, the history of the war is now seen in an objective and dispassionate way in the United States and other countries. In South Korea and China, on the other hand, the war continues to be very much alive as a pressing contemporary issue that still directly affects the countries involved.

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* * *

Statement by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe [Edited translation of relevant sections of Prime Minister Abe’s statement]

On the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, we must calmly reflect upon the road to war, the path we have taken since it ended, and the era of the 20th century. We must learn from the lessons of history the wisdom for our future.

① On the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, I bow my head deeply before the souls of all those who perished both at home and abroad. I express my feelings of profound grief and my eternal, sincere condolences.

More than three million of our compatriots lost their lives during the war: on the battlefields worrying about the future of their homeland and wishing for the happiness of their families; in remote foreign countries after the war, in extreme cold or heat, suffering from starvation and disease. The atomic bombings of and , the air raids on Tokyo and other cities, and the ground battles in Okinawa, among others, took a heavy toll among ordinary citizens without mercy.

Also in countries that fought against Japan, countless lives were lost among young people with promising futures. In China, Southeast Asia, the Pacific islands and elsewhere that became the battlefields, numerous innocent citizens suffered and fell victim to battles as well as hardships such as severe deprivation of food. ② We must never forget that there were women behind the battlefields whose honour and dignity were severely injured.

Upon the innocent people did our country inflict immeasurable damage and suffering. History is harsh. What is done cannot be undone. Each and every one of them had his or her life, dream, and beloved family. When I squarely contemplate this obvious fact, even now, I find myself speechless and my heart is rent with the utmost grief.

The peace we enjoy today exists only upon such precious sacrifices. And therein lies the origin of postwar Japan.

③ We must never again repeat the devastation of war.

④ Incident, aggression, war -- we shall never again resort to any form of the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes. ⑤We shall abandon colonial rule forever ⑥and respect the right of self-determination of all peoples throughout the world.

With deep repentance for the war, Japan made that pledge. Upon it, we have created a free and democratic country, abided by the rule of law, and consistently upheld that pledge never to wage a war again. While taking silent pride in the path we have walked as a peace-loving nation for as long as 70 years, we remain determined never to deviate from this steadfast course.

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⑦Japan has repeatedly expressed the feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war. In order to manifest such feelings through concrete actions,⑧ we have engraved in our hearts the histories of suffering of the people in Asia as our neighbours: those in Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, and Taiwan, the Republic of Korea and China, among others; and we have consistently devoted ourselves to the peace and prosperity of the region since the end of the war.

⑨ Such position articulated by the previous cabinets will remain unshakable into the future. ⑩In Japan, the postwar generations now exceed eighty per cent of its population.⑪ We must not let our children, grandchildren, and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize.

⑫We will engrave in our hearts the past, when the dignity and honour of many women were severely injured during wars in the 20th century. Upon this reflection, Japan wishes to be a country always at the side of such women’s injured hearts. Japan will lead the world in making the 21st century an era in which women’s human rights are not infringed upon.

We will engrave in our hearts the past, when Japan ended up becoming a challenger to the international order. Upon this reflection, Japan will firmly uphold basic values such as freedom, democracy, and human rights as unyielding values and, by working hand in hand with countries that share such values, hoist the flag of “Proactive Contribution to Peace,” and contribute to the peace and prosperity of the world more than ever before.

Heading toward the 80th, the 90th and the centennial anniversary of the end of the war, we are determined to create such a Japan together with the Japanese people.i

______Notes: The highlighted sections of the statement were used (with sound) in news broadcasts as follows: ①PBS (USA) ②MBC (Korea) ③TVBS (Taiwan) ④Public TV, TVBS (Taiwan), KBS, MBC, SBS (Korea) ⑤Public TV, Formosa (Taiwan), SBS (Korea) ⑥Formosa (Taiwan) ⑦Public TV, TVBS, Formosa (Taiwan), BBC (UK), KBS, MBC (Korea) ⑧TVBS (Taiwan) ⑨TVBS (Taiwan), BBC (UK), SBS (Korea) ⑩PBS (USA) ⑪ Public TV (Taiwan) (with translation error), PBS (USA) ⑫(KBS (Korea). ＊Keywords are shown in bold font.

i An English translation of the complete text of Abe’s statement can be read online at http://japan.kantei.go.jp/97_abe/statement/201508/0814statement.html Chinese and Korean translations are also available.

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