This essay examines how “plausible lies” in award-winning journalism, including Pulitzer-recognized reporting and major newspaper narratives, shaped global perceptions.
By comparing Western media history with Japanese media discourse, it calls for renewed responsibility and commitment to truth among journalists and scholars.

January 10, 2019
In other words, those who call themselves journalists and scholars must recognize that the Nanjing Massacre is a fabrication.

The prize, however, was never revoked.
Because the article had been written exactly as the Pulitzer establishment desired — in a highly plausible manner.
Rereading the chapter I published on July 12, 2018, under that title made me laugh aloud several times.
It is a magnificent essay proving that Masayuki Takayama is a truly unique journalist in the postwar world.
The following continues from his latest book.
Readers should go immediately to the nearest bookstore.
People around the world must read my English translation and learn the real truth.
Above all, they must know that it is a grave misunderstanding to think that the Asahi Shimbun represents Japan.

The lack of judgment of Asahi editorial writers recalls Katsuichi Honda.
They praise the AIIB in columns and criticize the Abe administration.
Shintaro Kasa boasts that Asahi is “Japan’s New York Times.”
Since the era of the Sulzbergers, The New York Times has declared that “what we print becomes news.”
After all, it has won some twenty Pulitzer Prizes.
Yet Pulitzer himself owned the New York World, a leading yellow newspaper that spread countless fabrications, from UFO abductions to alleged massacres by Japanese troops.
It was even said that the selection criterion for the prize was how plausibly one could write a lie.
In fact, The New York Times printed numerous falsehoods.
When news arrived that the Japanese fleet had sunk twelve Russian battleships in the Battle of the Sea of Japan, it declared that “the yellow race could not defeat the white,” and instead printed a false report that Russian sailors had mutinied.
Many Pulitzer Prize-winning articles in the paper were likewise false.
Walter Duranty, who won a Pulitzer for praising Stalin, was later accused of fabrications.
Investigations revealed that Stalin’s rule was hell itself, and that millions in Ukraine died from famine and massacre.
Still, the prize was never revoked.
Because the articles had been written in a convincingly plausible manner.

Whether aware of this reality or not, Shintaro Kasa began claiming that “The Asahi Shimbun is Japan’s New York Times.”
“What we print becomes news,” he implied.
They simply imitated The New York Times.
Playing Duranty’s role in Beijing was Akioka Ieshige.
He portrayed Mao Zedong as a benevolent leader and praised the Cultural Revolution unfolding before his eyes.

The world must learn the truth through this chapter and never forget it.
It must know that the narrative of the Nanjing Massacre was first shaped by a New York Times reporter and published in that paper.
In other words, those who call themselves journalists and scholars must recognize that the Nanjing Massacre is a fabrication.