Through the abduction issue, the NHK program controversy, the retraction of false reporting on comfort women, and the Yoshida testimony misreporting, this essay portrays the decline of Asahi Shimbun and the structure of its obsession with attacking Abe.
It sharply questions how a reporting stance that continued to belittle its own country led to reader alienation and declining circulation.

2019-06-06
It admitted and corrected false reporting on the comfort women issue going back thirty-two years.
And together with the false reporting on the Yoshida testimony concerning the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, President Kimura Tadakazu was driven to resign.

The following is a continuation of the previous chapter.
What Produced Anti-Abe Sentiment.

It was around this time that the major newspaper, still very much in its heyday though it had already produced a certain number of intense anti-Abe voices, clashed with the young Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe over the abduction issue.
Abe criticized the line taken by Asahi Shimbun that the abductees who had returned to Japan should be sent back to North Korea.
In response, Asahi named Abe in an editorial and criticized him in return, and then Abe criticized Asahi again in the pages of Shukan Bunshun.
At that time, there had been no politician who fought with the mass media and won, and the balance of forces was overwhelmingly against Abe.
But ironically, the public supported Abe’s resolute stance over the handling of the abduction issue, and he suddenly came to be seen as the leading candidate to succeed Koizumi.
Amid this, another case of conflict arose.
It concerned the program titled “Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal,” broadcast by NHK as an ETV Special in Heisei 13.
Regarding this, on January 12, Heisei 17, Asahi Shimbun reported that Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Shōichi Nakagawa and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe, at that time, had applied pressure to NHK’s upper management.
As a result of later verification, it became clear that there had been no such pressure.
Asahi’s president held a press conference and admitted the insufficiency of the reporting.
However, there was no correction or apology.
It is said that this made Asahi Shimbun’s hatred of Abe decisive.
It was after this that a shadow began to fall over Asahi Shimbun’s circulation, and its decline became unmistakable around Heisei 22, that is, 2010.
In that year, its morning edition circulation fell below 8 million copies.
As it happened, two years earlier, the short-message internet posting site “Twitter” had appeared in Japan, and from Heisei 22 onward its users increased.
After this, as people became able to post images and videos, SNS, that is, social networking services, with their superior capacity for rapid spread and breaking news, came to play a countervailing role against the mass media.
Amid such circumstances, Abe assumed the office of prime minister twice.
The first time, defeated in his struggle against the mass media led by Asahi Shimbun, he gave up power after only one year, but after returning in Heisei 24, he has maintained a long-term administration up to the present.
Then in Heisei 26, an “incident” occurred that made Asahi Shimbun’s decline unmistakable.
It admitted and corrected false reporting on the comfort women issue going back thirty-two years.
And together with the false reporting on the Yoshida testimony concerning the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, President Kimura Tadakazu was driven to resign.
From that year onward, the morning edition circulation of Asahi Shimbun fell below 7 million, and by the second half of Heisei 30, it had dropped to 5,766,550 copies.
Will the decline of Asahi Shimbun continue from here on?
As Mr. Uchida says, will it suddenly disappear one day, or will a day come when it is “saved” through the efforts of those involved?
So long as Asahi Shimbun, hardened by its hatred of Abe, continues to belittle its own country, avert its eyes from world developments, and keep lecturing the people from above without listening to their voices, there seems to be no path toward the latter.
Now then, what did the “Soryushi” column write on the first day of Reiwa?
This morning, while walking along Namiki-dori in Ginza lined with rows of Hinomaru flags, and while immersing myself in the celebratory mood, I thought about it.
So, what is going to change?
There are many problems in the world that I would like to see corrected, but they have nothing to do with the enthronement of the new Emperor.
That was the opening passage on May 1.
As expected, this simply will not do.