A former Asahi Shimbun editor’s remark about a “minor magazine” sparks criticism while highlighting the newspaper’s declining circulation.
A sharp commentary on shifting media power and the irony facing traditional major outlets.

Even so, with the same arrogant and haughty mouth that goes out of its way to mock another company’s publication as a “minor magazine.”
2018-01-30.
The following continues from the previous section.
The issue arose further after this.
The information asked here appears in the newspaper’s “Prime Minister’s Daily Activities.”
As I happened to glance at Twitter, a certain post caught my eye.
It was by Tadashi Tominaga, a former editorial writer of the Asahi Shimbun.
I do not follow his account, but perhaps someone had retweeted it and it appeared in my feed.
The tweet, quoting the Prime Minister’s daily record from his company’s site, read as follows.
“Prime Minister’s schedule (11th): ‘4:23 p.m., interview with monthly magazine Hanada at the residence. 5:37 p.m., Prime Minister’s Office…’ One hour for a minor magazine—quite a generous service.”
Certainly, compared with Asahi, Monthly Hanada does have a smaller circulation and could be called “minor.”
Even so, to deliberately mock another company’s publication as a “minor magazine,” and with that same arrogant tone preach about respecting minorities and promoting diversity, is truly astonishing.
Naturally, many critical replies were posted in response to this tweet.
It is said that over the past decade the Asahi Shimbun has lost more than 1.8 million copies in circulation.
As a result, it was forced into rationalization measures including personnel cost cuts beginning in 2016, yet despite these efforts, it lost more than 300,000 copies in a single year last year.
Of course, monthly magazines and daily newspapers cannot be compared on the same stage, but the “minor” Monthly Hanada is on an upward trajectory, while the self-proclaimed “major” Asahi Shimbun is now in clear decline.
Until now, I had merely felt occasional bitterness toward Asahi’s editorial stance and criticized it from time to time, but since this incident, I have begun to find it rather interesting to watch the newspaper’s daily changes.
How will the annual loss of more than 300,000 copies turn out this year?
They may join us in the “minor leagues” sooner than expected.
We will be delighted to welcome them (laugh).
Kaori Arimoto, journalist.