Amid the Kake Gakuen controversy, questions arise over media responsibility and the absence of direct interviews with those involved.
A critique of narrative-driven reporting and the duty to verify facts.

To this day, Asahi Shimbun reporters have not even come to interview me personally regarding documents about me.
2018-01-30.
The following continues from the previous section.
However, not only the opposition parties but even the media relied on this document and the testimony of former Ministry of Education vice-minister Kihei Maekawa to distort the facts and shape the narrative as if it were “decisive evidence” that administrative decisions had been warped by pressure or favoritism from the Prime Minister.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with reporting on questions raised by opposition lawmakers, nor with opposition parties taking up issues raised by the media in the Diet.
However, facts must not be distorted.
And once an issue has been raised, there should be a responsibility to report on what was discovered after conducting interviews and pursuing further questions.
More than ten months have passed since the initial report, but whether the Asahi Shimbun has fulfilled that responsibility—needless to say, the answer is obvious.
On the contrary, to this day, Asahi Shimbun reporters have not even come to interview me personally regarding documents concerning me.
To be continued.